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	<title><![CDATA[Movies ]]></title>
	<copyright>Copyright 2012 Copyright © 2011  Los Angeles Wave.  All rights reserved. </copyright>
	<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies</link>
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	<pubDate>Thu, 9 Feb 2012 01:39:42 PST</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Octavia Spencer: Media should reflect multicultural world]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Octavia-Spencer-Media-should-reflect-multicultural-world-138959964.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:50:58 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

Hate it or love it, Octavia Spencer's film &quot;The Help&quot; has at the very least sparked healthy amounts of dialogue about race and diversity in Hollywood.

Spencer, who portrays a maid living in the segregated South in the '60s-era movie, tells CNN that in order to see a greater amount of diversity in cinema, we as moviegoers need to buy tickets to films that reflect such casting.

&quot;I think Hollywood basically gives people what they think people want,&quot; the best supporting actress Oscar nominee said.

&quot;And what they think the people want is what people pay money to see. We can&rsquo;t really blame it all on Hollywood when the majority of the movies that are getting the big dollars are the ones that are blockbuster films,&quot; she continued. &quot;So if we want more films with diversity like 'A Better Life,' like 'The Help,' then we have to support those films. We just have to! We have to go support 'Red Tails,' we have to support 'Pariah.'&quot;

Spencer's also hopeful that her successful turn in &quot;The Help&quot; will open doors for more actors of color.

&quot;I just hope to keep being on screen, because the more they see me, the more they will start asking for people like me,&quot; she said. &quot;They will, hopefully, continue to employ young women like me. Or older. So I just think being visible helps our cause.&quot;

And, by the way, she notes - &quot;actors of color&quot; doesn't solely refer to African Americans.

Her visibility not only &quot;gives more women a shot,&quot; but it does the same for actors of all races, she says. &quot;I think people mistakenly think when we say 'of color' that we mean only black. 'Of color' is Latina, 'of color' is Asian, 'of color' is Indian/Native American. We live in a very multifaceted, multicultural world, and that needs to be represented in our media as well.&quot;

CNN's Kareen Wynter contributed to this report.









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			<title><![CDATA['The Help' stars line up new projects]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/The-Help-stars-line-up-new-projects-138684279.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 3 Feb 2012 16:23:06 PST</pubDate>
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																		                                                                        <description><![CDATA[(CNN) &mdash; Fresh off their wins at the  Screen Actors Guild awards, &quot;The Help's&quot; Octavia Spencer (who has also  nabbed a Golden Globe for  her role in the movie) and Viola Davis are  looking toward future  projects.


According to the Hollywood  Reporter, Spencer, who is up for the best supporting actress Oscar, has  signed on for the sci-fi film &quot;Snow Piercer.&quot;

Directed by Joon-ho  Bong, &quot;Snow Piercer&quot; tells the story of a future  in which an Ice Age  kills off everyone except those aboard a train that  crosses the globe  thanks to its perpetual-motion engine.

When a revolt against the class system of the train emerges, Spencer's character joins in to save her son.

Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, John Hurt and Korean actor Kang-ho Song have also signed on to the project.

Meanwhile,  Spencer's co-star Viola Davis, who's nominated for a best actress  Oscar, has two new projects on her plate. Variety reports that Davis  will appear in the highly anticipated adaptations of the books &quot;Ender's  Game&quot; and &quot;Beautiful Creatures.&quot;

&quot;Ender's&quot; centers on talented  strategist Ender Wiggins (played by Asa  Butterfield), who's recruited  to a military school to train to take  down an alien race. Davis will  portray a military psychologist who  watches over the emotional  well-being of the trainees in the futuristic  film, which is being  directed by Gavin Hood.

In &quot;Beautiful Creatures,&quot; directed by  Richard LaGravenese, two teens work to understand a curse that has been  haunting  the young woman's family for generations. Davis will play a  librarian  who was also the friend of the young man's deceased mother.
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			<title><![CDATA['Middle of Nowhere' director Ava DuVernay honored at Sundance]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Middle-of-Nowheres-director-Ava-DuVernay-honored-at-Sundance-138456209.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:04:33 PST</pubDate>
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																		                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

Ava DuVernay, who last year founded the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM), is the toast of the independent film world after becoming the first African-American woman to be named best director at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Her new film, &quot;Middle of Nowhere,&quot; stars Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Lorraine Touissant, Edwina Findley, Renee Victor, Sharon Lawrence, Troy Curvey, Yvette Cason and Omari Hardwick. It follows a woman coping with her husband's incarceration. It is her second feature; last year's &quot;I Will Follow&quot; was the first released under the AFFRM banner.

In an interview last year with News in Black Correspondent Olu Alemoru, DuVernay said now is the time to put forth a new face of African-American storytelling on film.

&ldquo;I think in a state of emergency in terms of Black films, so it was really a call to action,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;A lot of folks have been complaining and having a pity party about the state of black film, what the studios are or aren&rsquo;t doing.&rdquo;

She added: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s time for us to be self-determined and empowered and to look to ourselves to figure out this problem.

&ldquo;A couple of years ago I self-distributed a documentary called &lsquo;This is the Life,&rsquo; and really enjoyed the process. I started to learn about the Black film festival circuit and met people all around the country who were like-minded and passionate about Black independent film and our images.&rdquo;

DuVernay, who also owns a busy publicity firm, stressed that AFFRM&rsquo;s mission is to be a theatrical mechanism, with the alliance acting as a distribution studio for quality product on the silver screen.

&ldquo;We wanted to really make a point to be in cinemas and multiplexes where black films are familiar, rather than some of the smaller art film cinemas that are not in our communities.

&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a really savvy business on AMC&rsquo;s part; we&rsquo;re providing quality material to an audience starved of that material, backed by a marketing company that does campaigns for films like &ldquo;Dreamgirls&rdquo; and &ldquo;Invictus.&rdquo; AFFRM will focus on films and filmmakers whose characters are multi-dimensional; not a man in a dress or a fat suit, no shootings. Just Black people being people in a certain environment and experience.&rdquo;

Video by Young Hollywood/via YouTube.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['Most desirable' list includes Sofia Vergara, Rihanna]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/sofia-vergara-rihanna-kim-kardashian-nicki-minaj-scarlett-johansson-most-desirable-list-138437439.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:51:02 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

(CNN) &mdash; Looking at the world's most  beautiful women, from actresses to musicians to models, AskMen.com  wanted its users to consider one thing above all else: Would you date  them?

AskMen released its list of the &quot;Top 99 Most Desirable Women  of 2012&quot; Tuesday, based on the results of polling both readers and  office staff. While Editor-in-Chief James Bassil agrees that it's not as  easy to qualify a woman you've only seen on TV as a potential  girlfriend, the list isn't just made up of gorgeous models.

&quot;Looks  are obviously a big one for guys &mdash; there's no question about that &mdash;  but other factors are where a woman is in life, the kind of career she's  in and the success or ambition that reflects. Sincerity and loyalty,  all of those values that guys appreciate. We ask them to try to really  assess the candidates as prospective girlfriends and rank them according  to that. That's what really distinguishes the list from a straight-up  'hot women list.' &quot;

&quot;Modern Family's&quot; Sofia Vergara nabbed the top honors and, at age 39, is the &quot;most senior No. 1 we've had,&quot; Bassil said.

&quot;Seeing  her in the show's family context contributes to that desirability  perception and those very criteria that we ask users to judge them by,&quot;  he said. &quot;There's no question that she's hot. She does lots of  interviews where she's funny and charming and seems easygoing -- all of  those personal characteristics that guys prize in women. It seems like  there is a sincerity there too, and that's a huge thing for guys in  relationships.&quot;

While models have their fair share of representation on the list, a few surprises also sneaked into the top numbers.

Kate  Upton, Rooney Mara, Miranda Kerr, Nicki Minaj, Emma Stone, Scarlett  Johansson, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Candice Swanepoel made up the  rest of the top 10.

While Victoria's Secret models are enjoying  more visibility these days because of increased TV specials, Bassil  doesn't believe they're at the same level of supermodels from the '80s  and '90s, like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer.

Noticeably  absent were Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. Bassil believes men are  &quot;fatigued&quot; by the two actresses. Jolie's private, reserved life makes  her too much of a mystery without allowing insight into her personality,  while Aniston has never performed well on the list, Bassil said.

Newcomers  like Lana Del Ray, Emilia Clarke, Adele, Kreayshawn, and Paz de la  Huerta edged standbys from past years aside. Kristen Wiig outranked Tina  Fey at No. 36, while Fey dropped to No. 97. Former child stars are also  being perceived as the mature young women they've grown into, like  Selena Gomez and Emma Watson, ranked respectively at Nos. 14 and 17.

Kate  Middleton, making the list at No. 11, beat her sister, Pippa, by a long  shot. The younger sibling barely made the list at No. 98, but Bassil  believes that may be a reflection of the new voting system.

The  voting, which began in October, lasted just over six weeks, with an  initial pool of 170 candidates. Users ranked their top 10 on a personal  list, and each woman received points for being added to a list, as well  as her ranking on the list. The results created one list of 99  candidates. AskMen's staff also conducted an internal vote, and the two  lists combined represent the final product.

Photo: Actress Sofia Vergara walks the red carpet at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. Credit: Tom Larson/CNN
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			<title><![CDATA['The Help' wins ... and wins again ... and wins again at SAG awards]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/the-help-sag-screen-actors-guild-awards-video-138306144.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:42:16 PST</pubDate>
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																		                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

(CNN) &mdash; &quot;The Help,&quot; a  movie about the treatment of maids in a Mississippi town during the  civil rights era, took top honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards  Sunday night, making it the movie to watch as the Oscar awards approach  next month.

Viola Davis won the best actress trophy, while Octavia  Spence was given the best supporting actress honor. Both women  portrayed maids.

&quot;The Help&quot; also won the best cast ensemble SAG award.

&quot;The stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color and women,&quot; Davis said. &quot;It's all of our burden, all of us.&quot;

Davis'  best actress win seemed to throw the Oscar competition into a frenzy,  since she beat Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams, actresses who won  Golden Globes two weeks ago.

Streep was nominated for her  portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in &quot;Iron  Lady,&quot; and MIchelle Williams, was nominated for playing movie legend  Marilyn Monroe in &quot;My Week With Marilyn.&quot;

Jean Dujardin won the SAG best actor in a film award for his lead role in &quot;The Artist,&quot; a black-and-white, silent film.

The  win gives Dujardin an apparent edge against George Clooney and the  three other nominees in next month's Oscar best actor competition.

Spencer's  supporting actress SAG award makes her a clear frontrunner for the  supporting actress Oscar, considering she also won the Golden Globe.

&quot;These  women represent our mothers and grandmothers,&quot; Spencer said, referring  to the maids portrayed in &quot;The Help.&quot; &quot;By honoring me, you're honoring  them.&quot;

Christopher Plummer, 82, also earned frontrunner status  for in the Academy Award best supporting actor competition by winning  the SAG honor Sunday night for his role in &quot;The Beginners.&quot;

&quot;I  just cannot tell you how much fun I've had being a member of the world's  second oldest profession,&quot; Plummer said as he accepted his SAG trophy.

Hollywood's  awards season neared mid-point Sunday night with the 18th annual Screen  Actors Guild honors &mdash; the only industry awards that solely recognize  performers.

The SAG actor trophies go to both television and film actors, and the winners are chosen by their acting peers.

SAG  President Ken Howard also used the event to announce the actor union's  board approved a proposal to merge with AFTRA, another acting union,  pending approval of their memberships.

On the prime-time  television side, HBO's &quot;Boardwalk Empire&quot; won for best ensemble cast in a  drama series for a second straight year. It was also the second  consecutive time for the show's star Steve Buscemi to win the SAG best  actor in a TV drama award his role of Enoch &quot;Nucky&quot; Thompson.

Jessica  Lange won the SAG trophy for best actress in a TV drama series for her  work in the FX's &quot;American Horror Story.&quot; It is her first SAG honor.

&quot;It was a real leap of faith for me to jump into it, but it's been a wonderful ride,&quot; Lange said of her role as &quot;Constance.&quot;

In  the television movie or miniseries categories, best actress award went  to Kate Winslet for &quot;Mildred Pierce.&quot; Paul Giamatti won best actor for  his portrayal of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in &quot;Too Big To  Fail.&quot;

&quot;Modern Family&quot; won the best ensemble cast in a TV comedy series for a second year.

Alec  Baldwin won SAG's best actor in a TV comedy series for &quot;30 Rock,&quot; while  89-year-old Betty White was given the best actress in a comedy award  for &quot;Hot in Cleveland,&quot; which she won last year.

&quot;I don't think they can read,&quot; White said as she accepted. &quot;I think they made a terrible mistake.&quot;

The  show at the Shrine Exposition Center aired on TNT and TBS. Both TNT and  TBS are units of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Chris Rock may tour with Dave Chappelle]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Chris-Rock-may-tour-with-Dave-Chappelle-138172014.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:34:37 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

Jay-Z and Kanye West might be atop the music business, but as a duo they've got nothing on comedic titans Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.

According to Rock, the two stand-up icons have been in talks to hit the road together.

&quot;I've been talking to Chappelle a lot,&quot; Rock told New York magazine's Vulture at the Sundance Film Festival. &quot;Been trying to get Chappelle to go on tour.&quot;

Rock shared this news while doing press for his new flick, &quot;What To Expect When You're Expecting,&quot; and of course it's been Chappelle who has been all but missing from spotlight.

Aside from an interview with a San Francisco radio station in August, rumors running wild about a &quot;Chappelle Show&quot; return and secret gigs throughout the country, the man himself has more or less stayed out of the spotlight.

Perhaps Rock - and a little inspiration from Jay-Z and Kanye's platinum collaborative album, &quot;Watch the Throne&quot; - will pull Chappelle out of work limbo.

&quot;You know I'm not the hard one,&quot; Rock joked. &quot;I'm trying to make that happen. After seeing Kanye and Jay-Z, I was like, 'Me and Dave should do this.'&quot;
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			<title><![CDATA[Judge denies nanny's request for restraining order against Halle Berry's ex-boyfriend]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Judge-denies-nannys-request-for-restraining-order-against-Halle-Berrys-ex-boyfriend-138024803.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:39:13 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[A judge Tuesday denied a request by Halle Berry's former nanny for a stay-away order against the Oscar-winning actress' ex-boyfriend.

Alliance Kamdem filed a police report claiming Gabriel Aubry pushed her into a door as she was holding the former couple's 46-month-old daughter Nahla during an alleged confrontation last Wednesday.

"I was terrified,'' Kamdem stated in a sworn declaration. "The push was so forceful that that if there had not been a wall behind me to stop the force of my movement I would have fallen down with Nahla in my arms.''

The nanny said Aubry is nearly a foot taller than her and had exhibited "irrational rage'' toward her.

Kamdem said she began caring for Nahla last June.

"Within a week of the start of my employment, Mr. Aubry began becoming verbally abusive and aggressive toward me,'' Kamdem said. "He would say things to me like, `What are you doing here? You are a spy. You report everything I say. You're not even doing your job. Nahla doesn't like you, she doesn't want you here.'''

She said that part of her job included taking Nahla to the local park, the library, her school and to piano lessons.

Kamdem, who has since quit her job, said she feared retaliation by Aubry, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson ruled against her anyway.

Los Angeles police and county child protective services are investigating Aubry for child endangerment and battery in connection with the confrontation with Kamdem, according to published reports.

Berry and Aubry were both in a closed court session Tuesday. She reportedly asked the judge to keep Aubry away from the toddler until the probe is complete.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon deferred any action until Monday, when Judge Mark Juhas, who is presiding over the ongoing Berry-Aubry family law case, returns from vacation.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['Hugo,' 'The Artist' dominate Oscar nominations ]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Hugo-The-Artist-dominate-Oscar-nominations--138019473.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:49:20 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	







																														                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

BEVERLY HILLS &mdash; Two homages to film making &mdash; one in 3-D and vivid color, the other silent and black and white &mdash; garnered the lion's share of nominations Tuesday for the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

Martin Scorsese's &quot;Hugo&quot; earned 11 nominations, including best picture, narrowly besting &quot;The Artist,&quot; which was nominated in 10 categories for its black-and-white portrayal of the golden age of Hollywood.

&quot;The Artist&quot; also landed a best picture nomination and was already considered a favorite in the category after taking home the top honor from the Producers Guild of America on Saturday. The film also won a Golden Globe Award for best comedy/musical last week.

Other films up for best picture include Steven Spielberg's &quot;War Horse,&quot; Alexander Payne's &quot;The Descendants,&quot; Terrence Malick's &quot;The Tree of Life,&quot; Woody Allen's &quot;Midnight in Paris,&quot; the civil-rights drama &quot;The Help,&quot; the post-9/11 family drama &quot;Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,&quot; and &quot;Moneyball,&quot; about the successful effort of Oakland A's manager Billy Beane to put together a team with the help of computer-generated analysis.

Despite &quot;Hugo's&quot; leading number of nominations, many pundits have already called the best-picture race a two-film contest between &quot;The Artist&quot; and &quot;The Descendants,&quot; which won best drama film at the Golden Globes.

&quot;The Artist&quot; would be the first silent film to win best picture in more than 80 years since the Academy named &quot;Wings,&quot; a story of World War I fighter pilots, its first best picture in 1927.

The nominees for the 84th Academy Awards were announced in Beverly Hills by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence. Nearly 5,800 votes were cast and tallied by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

&quot;Nine movies got enough votes to qualify for best movie nominee. That makes for a horse race,&quot; Sherak said. &quot;I think that's a really good thing going into the show.&quot;

Academy rules allow for as many as 10 best-picture nominations.

&quot;Hugo&quot; earned Martin Scorsese a best director nomination, as well as nods for adapted screenplay, score editing and a host of other production categories, including art direction, cinematography and visual effects.

Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo earned nominations for best actor and best supporting actress for their work in &quot;The Artist.&quot; The film also earned a best director nomination for Michel Hazanavicius and nominations for best original score and original screenplay.

Golden Globe winner George Clooney garnered a best-actor nomination for &quot;The Descendants.&quot; Along with Dujardin, who also won a Golden Globe, the other nominees were Demian Bichir for &quot;A Better Life,&quot; Gary Oldman for &quot;Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy&quot; and Brad Pitt for &quot;Moneyball.&quot;

Michelle Williams was nominated for best actress for her portrayal of screen legend Marilyn Monroe in &quot;My Week with Marilyn.&quot; But she will have a tough battle against Viola Davis, who was nominated for her role as a maid in &quot;The Help,&quot; Rooney Mara for &quot;The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,&quot; Glenn Close for her gender-bending role in &quot;Albert Nobbs&quot; and Meryl Streep for her turn as Margaret Thatcher in &quot;The Iron Lady.&quot;

For Streep, who has won two Oscars, Tuesday's nomination was the 17th &mdash; a record.

In the best supporting actress category, the nominees were Bejo for&quot;The Artist,&quot; Jessica Chastain for &quot;The Help,&quot; Melissa McCarthy for &quot;Bridesmaids,&quot; Janet McTeer for &quot;Albert Nobbs&quot; and Octavia Spencer for &quot;The Help.&quot;

The nominees for best supporting actor were Kenneth Branagh for &quot;My Week with Marilyn,&quot; Jonah Hill for &quot;Moneyball,&quot; Nick Nolte for &quot;Warrior,&quot; Christopher Plummer for &quot;Beginners&quot; and Max von Sydow for &quot;Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.&quot;

The early favorites to win best supporting actors Oscars appear to be Golden Globe winners Spencer and Plummer. Favorites in most of the acting categories will likely be solidified Sunday, when the Screen Actors Guild Awards are presented.

The Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

In addition to Hazanavicius and Scorsese, best-director nominations went to Payne for &quot;The Descendants,&quot; Woody Allen for &quot;Midnight in Paris&quot; and Terrence Malick for &quot;The Tree of Life.&quot;

Notably absent from that list was David Fincher, who was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award for helming &quot;The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.&quot;

Payne and collaborators Nat Faxon and Jim Rash were nominated for best adapted screenplay for &quot;The Descendants,&quot; along with John Logan for &quot;Hugo&quot;; Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon for &quot;The Ides of March&quot;; Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin for &quot;Moneyball&quot;; and Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan for &quot;Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.&quot;

For original screenplay, nominations went to Allen for &quot;Midnight in Paris&quot;; Hazanavicius for &quot;The Artist&quot;; Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig for &quot;Bridesmaids&quot;; J.C. Chandor for &quot;Margin Call&quot;; and Asghar Farhadi for &quot;A Separation.&quot;]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Anonymous strikes back after feds shut piracy hub Megaupload ]]></title>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:17:56 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; &quot;Hacktivist&quot; collective  Anonymous on Thursday took credit for taking down U.S. Department of  Justice, FBI and entertainment company websites, following arrests in  one of the federal government's largest anti-piracy crackdowns.

Federal  agents earlier in the day arrested the leaders of Megaupload.com and  shut down the popular hub for illegal media downloads.

Hours  later, some of Megaupload's fans turned the table on the feds. Anonymous  said it set its sights on the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.

Both  sites appeared to be back up late Thursday, but portions of FBI.gov  were not readily available. A law enforcement official told CNN the FBI  was investigating.

Anonymous said 10 websites in all were targeted.

&quot;We  Anonymous are launching our largest attack ever on government and music  industry sites. Lulz,&quot; the group said in a statement posted late  Thursday on an associated Twitter account. &quot;The FBI didn't think they  would get away with this did they? They should have expected us.&quot;

The  group also posted personal information on former Connecticut Sen. Chris  Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, one of the  targeted sites.

A Justice Department spokesperson, who did not  want to be identified, said its Web server was &quot;experiencing a  significant increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in  service.&quot;

&quot;The department is working to ensure the website is  available while we investigate the origins of this activity, which is  being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root  cause of the disruption,&quot; the spokesperson said.

The website glitches came soon after various Twitter accounts associated with the collective took aim at the government.

Anonymous'  favorite weapon for these attacks is what's called a &quot;distributed  denial of service&quot; (DDoS) attack, which directs a flood of traffic to a  website and temporarily crashes it by overwhelming its servers. It  doesn't actually involve any hacking or security breaches.

&quot;One thing is certain: EXPECT US! #Megaupload&quot; read one tweet from AnonOps that went out midafternoon.

One  hour later, the same account tweeted a victory message: &quot;Tango down!  http://universalmusic.com &amp; http://www.justice.gov// #Megaupload&quot;

Speaking  of the Web attacks, an Anonymous representative said 5,635 people used a  networking tool called a &quot;low orbit ion cannon.&quot; A LOIC is a software  tool that aims a massive flood of traffic at a targeted site.

The  news comes as lawmakers have turned their attention to anti-piracy  legislation. Protests erupted both online and offline this week against  two bills under consideration in Congress: the House's Stop Online  Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA).

The  bills are aimed at cracking down on copyright infringement by  restricting access to sites that host or facilitate the trading of  pirated content. But the legislation has created a divide between tech  giants, who say the language is too broad, and large media companies,  who say they are losing millions each year to rampant online piracy.  (Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, is among the industry  supporters of the legislation.)

On Twitter, YourAnonNews said Thursday's attacks meant an &quot;involuntary blackout&quot; for sites of SOPA supporters.

Universal  Music's website went down Thursday afternoon. The music company had  been locked in a legal battle with Megaupload over a YouTube video that  featured many of Universal Music's signed artists promoting Megaupload's  site.

The websites of the Recording Industry Association of  America and Motion Picture Association of America were out of action  Thursday afternoon, but they appeared to be back up later in the  evening.

A spokesman for RIAA cast the attack as a minor hiccup.

&quot;The  fact that a couple of sites might have been taken down is really  ancillary to the significant news today that the Justice Department  brought down one of the world's most notorious file-sharing hubs,&quot; he  said.

The Anonymous attack came soon after the Justice Department  announced the indictment of seven individuals connected to Megaupload  for allegedly operating an &quot;international organized criminal enterprise  responsible for massive worldwide online piracy of copyrighted works.&quot;

Authorities  said the operation had generated more than $175 million in illegal  profits through advertising revenue and the sale of premium memberships.

According  to the indictment, Megaupload, which launched in 2005, was once the  13th-most visited website on the Internet, serving as a hub for  distribution of copyrighted television shows, images, computer software  and video games.

The site's popular MegaVideo subsidiary was  widely known in tech circles for its copious selection of pirated  content, including recent movies and episodes of hit TV shows.

Four  of those indicted were arrested Thursday in Auckland, New Zealand, at  the request of the United States. Three others remain at large.

The  individuals indicted are citizens of New Zealand, Germany, Slovakia and  the Netherlands. No U.S. citizens were named. However, Megaupload has  servers in Ashburn, Virginia, and Washington, which prompted the  Virginia-based investigation.

To shut down Megaupload, federal  authorities executed 20 search warrants in eight countries, seizing 18  domain names and $50 million worth of assets, including servers in  Virginia, Washington, the Netherlands and Canada.

In some of its attacks, Anonymous has targeted governments or companies it says are part of or support a police state.

The  list of police officers and agencies targeted by the collective is  long. From New York to Oakland, California, police websites have been  hacked; personal information, including the home addresses of specific  police officers, was posted online in 2011.

CNN's Laurie Segall, Terry Frieden, Amber Lyon, Steve Turnham, Carol Cratty and David Goldman contributed to this report]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Halle Berry stalker pleads no contest]]></title>
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			<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:22:04 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; A 28-year-old man pleaded no contest Thursday to stalking actress Halle  Berry, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

Richard  Anthony Franco of Commerce was sentenced to 386 days in county jail,  but received credit Thursday for 193 days already served and won't do  any more time, prosecutors said.

Franco was also sentenced to five  years' probation and ordered to undergo a year of psychological  counseling, the prosecutor's office said.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dennis Landin also imposed a 10-year criminal protective order, prosecutors said.

As  part of a plea deal, one count of first-degree residential burglary was  dismissed at sentencing, prosecutors said. Franco pleaded no contest to  one count of stalking.

In July, Franco allegedly showed up  several times at Berry's Hollywood Hills home. He was arrested after she  reported a possible burglar, according to police.

At the time, off-duty officers hired by Berry called police and said they were holding a burglary suspect at her home.

A  resident there identified him as the same man who had climbed over a  locked security gate into the property several times over a few days,  police said.

Both times, he had claimed he was &quot;there to see somebody,&quot; but left after a Berry employee ordered him out, police said.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['The Help' leads Image Award nominations]]></title>
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			<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:52:40 PST</pubDate>
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BEVERLY HILLS &mdash; The civil rights drama &quot;The Help&quot; collected eight nominations Thursday for the 43rd annual NAACP Image Awards, honoring the achievements of people of color in television, music, literature and films.

The awards also honor groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.

&quot;The Help,&quot; the story of an idealistic young writer who gets civil- rights era black maids to talk about their lives as servants in white homes, was nominated for best picture, best actress for Emma Stone and Viola Davis and supporting actress for Bryce Dallas Howard, Cicely Tyson and Golden Globe winner Octavia Spencer.

Also nominated for best picture were &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; &mdash; which earned six nominations, &quot;Pariah,&quot; &quot;The First Grader&quot; and &quot;Tower Heist.&quot;

&quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; earned best actor and actress nominations for Laz Alonso and Paula Patton, respectively.

Other best-actor nods went to Eddie Murphy of &quot;Tower Heist,&quot; Laurence Fishburne for &quot;Contagion,&quot; Oliver Litondo for &quot;The First Grader&quot; and Vin Diesel for &quot;Fast Five.&quot;

Along with Stone, Davis and Patton, best-actress nominations also went to Adepero Oduye for &quot;Pariah&quot; and Zoe Saldana for &quot;Colombiana.&quot;

The Image Awards will be presented Feb. 17 and televised on NBC.

Here is a list of nominations:

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

Outstanding Comedy Series
&mdash; &quot;Love That Girl!&quot; (TV One)
&mdash; &quot;Modern Family&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; &quot;Reed Between the Lines&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;The Game&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;Tyler Perry's House of Payne&quot; (TBS)

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Dule Hill, &quot;Psych&quot; (USA Network)
&mdash; Malcolm-Jamal Warner, &quot;Reed Between the Lines&quot; (BET)
&mdash; Phil Morris, &quot;Love That Girl!&quot; (TV One)
&mdash; Pooch Hall, &quot;The Game&quot; (BET)
&mdash; Terry Crews, &quot;Are We There Yet?&quot; (TBS)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Tatyana Ali, &quot;Love That Girl!&quot; (TV One)
&mdash; Tia Mowry-Hardrict, &quot;The Game&quot; (BET)
&mdash; Tracee Ellis Ross, &quot;Reed Between the Lines&quot; (BET)
&mdash; Vanessa Williams, &quot;Desperate Housewives&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Wendy Raquel Robinson, &quot;The Game&quot; (BET)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Craig Robinson, &quot;The Office&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; Damon Wayans Jr., &quot;Happy Endings&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; J.B. Smoove, &quot;Curb Your Enthusiasm&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; Nick Cannon, &quot;Up All Night&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; Tracy Morgan, &quot;30 Rock&quot; (NBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Amber Riley, &quot;Glee&quot; (FOX)
&mdash; Gabourey Sidibe, &quot;The Big C&quot; (Showtime)
&mdash; Keshia Knight Pulliam, &quot;Tyler Perry's House of Payne&quot; (TBS)
&mdash; Maya Rudolph, &quot;Up All Night&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; Sofia Vergara, &quot;Modern Family&quot; (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series
&mdash; &quot;Boardwalk Empire&quot; (HBO)
&mdash;  &quot;Grey's Anatomy&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; &quot;Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; &quot;The Good Wife&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; &quot;Treme&quot; (HBO)

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
&mdash; Andre Braugher, &quot;Men of A Certain Age&quot; (TNT)
&mdash; Hill Harper, &quot;CSI: NY&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; L.L. Cool J, &quot;NCIS: Los Angeles&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Taye Diggs, &quot;Private Practice&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Wendell Pierce, &quot;Treme&quot; (HBO)

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
&mdash; Chandra Wilson, &quot;Grey's Anatomy&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Khandi Alexander, &quot;Treme&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; Regina King, &quot;SouthLAnd&quot; (TNT)
&mdash; Sandra Oh, &quot;Grey's Anatomy&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Taraji P. Henson, &quot;Person of Interest&quot; (CBS)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
&mdash; Corey Reynolds, &quot;The Closer&quot; (TNT)
&mdash; Ice T, &quot;Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; James Pickens Jr., &quot;Grey's Anatomy&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Nelsan Ellis, &quot;True Blood&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; Omar Epps, &quot;House M.D.&quot; (FOX)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
&mdash; Alfre Woodard, &quot;Memphis Beat&quot; (TNT)
&mdash; Anika Noni Rose, &quot;Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; Archie Panjabi, &quot;The Good Wife&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Diahann Carroll, &quot;White Collar&quot; (USA Network)
&mdash; Loretta Devine, &quot;Grey's Anatomy&quot; (ABC)

Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
&mdash; &quot;Five&quot; (Lifetime Movie Network)
&mdash; &quot;Hallmark Hall of Fame, Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; &quot;Luther&quot; (BBC America)
&mdash; &quot;The Least Among You&quot; (Showtime)
&mdash; &quot;Thurgood&quot; (HBO)

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
&mdash; Esai Morales, &quot;We Have Your Husband&quot; (Lifetime)
&mdash; Idris Elba, &quot;Luther&quot; (BBC America)
&mdash; Laurence Fishburne, &quot;Thurgood&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; Louis Gossett Jr., &quot;The Least Among You&quot; (Showtime)
&mdash; Samuel L. Jackson, &quot;The Sunset Limited&quot; (HBO)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
&mdash; Anika Noni Rose, &quot;Hallmark Hall of Fame, Mitch Albom's Have a Little
Faith&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; Jenifer Lewis, &quot;Five&quot; (Lifetime Movie Network)
&mdash; Rosario Dawson, &quot;Five&quot; (Lifetime Movie Network)
&mdash; Taraji P. Henson, &quot;Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story&quot; (Lifetime)
&mdash; Tracee Ellis Ross, &quot;Five&quot; (Lifetime Movie Network)

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
&mdash; Aaron D. Spears, &quot;The Bold and the Beautiful&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Bryton James, &quot;The Young and the Restless&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Emerson Brooks, &quot;All My Children&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; James Reynolds, &quot;Days of Our Lives&quot; (NBC)
&mdash; Texas Battle, &quot;The Bold and the Beautiful&quot; (CBS)

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
&mdash; Christel Khalil, &quot;The Young and the Restless&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Julia Pace Mitchell, &quot;The Young and the Restless&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Tatyana Ali, &quot;The Young and the Restless&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Tonya Lee Williams, &quot;The Young and the Restless&quot; (CBS)
&mdash; Yvette Freeman, &quot;The Bold and the Beautiful&quot; (CBS)

Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)
&mdash; &quot;BET News Exclusive: The President Answers Black America&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;Judge Mathis&quot; (Syndicated)
&mdash; &quot;Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; &quot;Unsung&quot; (TV One)
&mdash; &quot;Washington Watch with Roland Martin&quot; (TV One)

Outstanding Talk Series
&mdash; &quot;Anderson&quot; (Syndicated)
&mdash; &quot;Oprah's Lifeclass&quot; (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)
&mdash; &quot;The Doctors&quot; (Syndicated)
&mdash; &quot;The View&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; &quot;The Wendy Williams Show&quot; (Syndicated)

Outstanding Reality Series
&mdash; &quot;All-American Muslim&quot; (TLC)
&mdash; &quot;American Idol&quot; (FOX)
&mdash; &quot;Dancing with the Stars&quot; (ABC)
&mdash; &quot;Sunday Best&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;Tia &amp; Tamera&quot; (Style Network)

Outstanding Variety Series or Special
&mdash; &quot;2011 BET Awards&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;Black Girls Rock!&quot; (BET)
&mdash; &quot;Oprah Presents: Master Class&quot; (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)
&mdash; &quot;Prince! Behind the Symbol&quot; (The Africa Channel)
&mdash; &quot;UNCF An Evening of Stars Tribute to Chaka Khan&quot; (BET)

Outstanding Children's Program
&mdash; &quot;A.N.T. Farm&quot; (Disney Channel)
&mdash; &quot;Dora The Explorer&quot; (Nickelodeon)
&mdash; &quot;Go, Diego! Go!&quot; (Nickelodeon)
&mdash; &quot;I Can Be President: A Kid's-Eye View&quot; (HBO)
&mdash; &quot;My Family Tree&quot; (Disney Channel)

Outstanding Performance in a Youth/ Children's Program - (Series or Special)
&mdash; China Anne McClain, &quot;A.N.T. Farm&quot; (Disney Channel)
&mdash; Keke Palmer, &quot;True Jackson, VP&quot; (Nickelodeon)
&mdash; Lance Robertson, &quot;Yo Gabba Gabba&quot; (Nickelodeon)
&mdash; Leon Thomas III, &quot;Victorious&quot; (Nickelodeon)
&mdash; Zendaya Coleman, &quot;Shake It Up&quot; (Disney Channel)

RECORDING CATEGORIES

Outstanding New Artist
&mdash; Committed (Epic)
&mdash; Diggy Simmons (Atlantic Records)
&mdash; Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. (Columbia Records)
&mdash; Mindless Behavior (Streamline/Conjunction/Interscope Records)
&mdash; Wynter Gordon (Big Beat/Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Male Artist
&mdash; Anthony Hamilton (RCA Records)
&mdash; Bruno Mars (Elektra Records)
&mdash; Cee Lo Green (Elektra Records)
&mdash; Chris Brown (Jive Records)
&mdash; Common (Warner Bros. Records)

Outstanding Female Artist
&mdash; Beyonce (Columbia Records)
&mdash; Jennifer Hudson (Arista Records)
&mdash; Jill Scott (Warner Bros. Records)
&mdash; Ledisi (Verve Forecast)
&mdash; Mary J. Blige (Geffen)

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration
&mdash; Boyz II Men (Benchmark Entertainment/MSM Music Group)
&mdash; Cee Lo Green feat. Melanie Fiona (Elektra Records)
&mdash; Mary J. Blige feat. Drake (Geffen)
&mdash; Sounds of Blackness (Malaco Music Group)
&mdash; The Roots (Island Def Jam Music Group)

Outstanding Jazz Album
&mdash; &quot;Chano y Dizzy,&quot; Terence Blanchard and Poncho Sanchez (Concord
Music Group, Inc.)
&mdash; &quot;Friends,&quot; Stanley Jordan (Mack Avenue Records)
&mdash; &quot;Guitar Man,&quot; George Benson (Concord Jazz)
&mdash; &quot;Legacy,&quot; Gerald Wilson (Mack Avenue Records)
&mdash; &quot;Road Show Vol. 2,&quot; Sonny Rollins (Emarcy)

Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional or Contemporary)
&mdash; &quot;Becoming,&quot; Yolanda Adams (N House Music Group)
&mdash; &quot;Church on the Moon,&quot; Deitrick Haddon (Verity Gospel Music Group)
&mdash; &quot;Hello Fear,&quot; Kirk Franklin (Verity Gospel Music Group)
&mdash; &quot;Something Big,&quot; Mary Mary (Columbia Records)
&mdash; &quot;The Journey,&quot; Andrae Crouch (RiverPhlo Entertainment)

Outstanding World Music Album
&mdash; Afrodiaspora,&quot; Susana Baca (Luaka Bop)
&mdash; &quot;Carnival Fever,&quot; Brother B (King Chero Records)
&mdash; &quot;Live at 2011 New Orleans Jazz &amp; Heritage Festival,&quot; Boukman
Eksperyans (MunckMix, Inc.)
&mdash; &quot;Sounds of Blackness,&quot; Sounds of Blackness (Malaco Music Group)
&mdash; &quot;The First Grader,&quot; Alex Heffes (Varese Sarabande)

Outstanding Music Video
&mdash; &quot;25/8,&quot; Mary J. Blige (Geffen)
&mdash; &quot;Hear My Call,&quot; Jill Scott (Warner Bros. Records)
&mdash; &quot;I Was Here,&quot; Beyonce (Columbia Records)
&mdash; &quot;Someone Like You,&quot; Adele (Columbia Records)
&mdash; &quot;Where You At,&quot; Jennifer Hudson (Arista Records)

Outstanding Song
&mdash; &quot;Best Thing I Never Had,&quot; Beyonce (Columbia Records)
&mdash; &quot;Fool for You feat. Melanie Fiona,&quot; Cee Lo Green (Elektra Records)
&mdash; &quot;I Smile,&quot; Kirk Franklin (Verity Gospel Music Group)
&mdash; &quot;So In Love feat. Anthony Hamilton,&quot; Jill Scott (Warner Bros. Records)
&mdash; &quot;Someone Like You,&quot; Adele (Columbia Records)

Outstanding Album
&mdash; &quot;4,&quot; Beyonce (Columbia Records)
&mdash; &quot;F.A.M.E,&quot; Chris Brown (Jive Records)
&mdash; &quot;I Remember Me,&quot; Jennifer Hudson (Arista Records)
&mdash; &quot;Lasers,&quot; Lupe Fiasco (1st &amp; 15th/Atlantic Records)
&mdash; &quot;The Light of the Sun,&quot; Jill Scott (Warner Bros. Records)

LITERATURE CATEGORIES

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction
&mdash; &quot;A Silken Thread,&quot; Brenda Jackson (Harlequin Kimani Press)
&mdash; &quot;Boundaries,&quot; Elizabeth Nunez (Akashic Books)
&mdash; &quot;Say Amen, Again,&quot; Reshonda Tate Billingsley (Gallery Books)
&mdash; &quot;Silver Sparrow,&quot; Tayari Jones (Algonquin Books)
&mdash; &quot;The Plot Against Hip Hop: A Novel,&quot; Nelson George (Akashic Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction
&mdash; &quot;Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America,&quot;
Melissa Harris-Perry (Yale University Press)
&mdash; &quot;Super Rich,&quot; Russell Simmons (Gotham Books)
&mdash; &quot;The Cosmopolitan Canopy,&quot; Elijah Anderson (W. W. Norton &amp; Company)
&mdash; &quot;The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place,&quot; Hill Harper (Gotham
Books)
&mdash; &quot;Who's Afraid of Post- Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now,&quot;
Toure (Free Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author
&mdash; &quot;2Grieve 2Gether: A Journal from the Heart Helping Survivors &amp;
Supporters Navigate the Healing Process,&quot; Denise Hall Brown (2Lift 1Up
Publishing)
&mdash; &quot;A Defining Moment,&quot; Patricia Duncan (IJABA Publishing Inc.)
&mdash; &quot;The Loom,&quot; Shella Gillus (Guideposts Books)
&mdash; &quot;The Strawberry Letter,&quot; Lyah Le Flore (Ballantine/Random House)
&mdash; &quot;We the Animals,&quot; Justin Torres (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/Auto-Biography
&mdash; &quot;A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother,&quot;
Janny Scott (Riverhead Books)
&mdash; &quot;Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,&quot; Manning Marable (Penguin Group
(USA)-Viking)
&mdash; &quot;My Song,&quot; Harry Belafonte (Knopf)
&mdash; &quot;No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington,&quot; Condoleezza
Rice (Crown Publishers)
&mdash; &quot;The John Carlos Story,&quot; John Carlos, Dave Zirin (Haymarket Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional
&mdash; &quot;A Year to Wellness and Other Weight Loss Secrets,&quot; Bertice Berry
(Freeman House Publishing)
&mdash; &quot;Living My Dream: An Artistic Approach to Marketing,&quot; Synthia Saint
James (Create Space)
&mdash; &quot;Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy, &amp; Social
Justice in Classroom &amp; Community,&quot; Quraysh Ali Lansana (Teachers &amp; Writers
Collaborative)
&mdash; &quot;The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships
from the Inspired Word of God,&quot; T.D. Jakes (Atria Books)
&mdash; &quot;Too Important to Fail: Saving America's Boys,&quot; Tavis Smiley
(Author), Juan Roberts (Illustrator) (SmileyBooks)

Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry
&mdash; &quot;Afro Clouds &amp; Nappy Rain: The Curtis Brown Poems,&quot; James Golden
(iUniverse)
&mdash; &quot;Head Off &amp; Split,&quot; Nikky Finney (TriQuarterly Books / Northwestern
University Press)
&mdash; &quot;Honoring Genius: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and
Justice,&quot; Haki Madhubuti (Third World Press)
&mdash; &quot;Intimate Thoughts,&quot; Darrin Henson (Author), Anna Saunders
(Illustrator) (Godzchild Publishing)
&mdash; &quot;Last Seen,&quot; Jacqueline Jones Lamon (University of Wisconsin Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Children
&mdash; &quot;Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band,&quot; Kwame Alexander (Author),
Tim Bowers (Illustrator) (Sleeping Bear Press)
&mdash; &quot;Before There Was Mozart,&quot; Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), James
Ransome (Illustrator) (Schwartz &amp; Wade Books / Random House Children's Books)
&mdash; &quot;Heart and Soul,&quot; Kadir Nelson (Author/Illustrator) (Balzer + Bray,
an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books)
&mdash; &quot;White Water,&quot; Michael S. Bandy (Author), Shadra Strickland
(Illustrator) (Candlewick Press)
&mdash; &quot;You Can Be A Friend,&quot; Tony Dungy (Author), Ron Mazellan
(Illustrator) (Simon &amp; Schuster Children's Publishing - Little Simon)

Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens
&mdash; &quot;Camo Girl,&quot; Kekla Magoon (Simon &amp; Schuster Children's Publishing -
Aladdin)
&mdash; &quot;Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary,&quot; Jerdine
Nolan (Author), Sadra Strickland (Illustrator) (Simon &amp; Schuster Children's
Publishing - Paula Wiseman Books)
&mdash; &quot;Jesse Owens: I Always Loved Running,&quot; Jeff Burlingame (Enslow
Publishers, Inc.)
&mdash; &quot;Kick,&quot; Walter Dean (HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins
Children's Books)
&mdash; &quot;Planet Middle School,&quot; Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES

Outstanding Motion Picture
&mdash; &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)
&mdash; &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; &quot;The First Grader&quot; (National Geographic Entertainment)
&mdash; &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant Media/Touchstone Pictures)
&mdash; &quot;Tower Heist&quot; (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
&mdash; Eddie Murphy, &quot;Tower Heist&quot; (Universal Pictures)
&mdash; Laurence Fishburne, &quot;Contagion&quot; (Warner Bros. Pictures)
&mdash; Laz Alonso, &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)
&mdash; Oliver Litondo, &quot;The First Grader&quot; (National Geographic Entertainment)
&mdash; Vin Diesel, &quot;Fast Five&quot; (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
&mdash; Adepero Oduye, &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; Emma Stone, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)
&mdash; Paula Patton, &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)
&mdash; Viola Davis, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)
&mdash; Zoe Saldana, &quot;Colombiana&quot; (TriStar Pictures)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
&mdash; Anthony Mackie, &quot;The Adjustment Bureau&quot; (Universal Pictures)
&mdash; Charles Parnell, &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; Don Cheadle, &quot;The Guard&quot; (Sony Pictures Classics)
&mdash; Jeffrey Wright, &quot;The Ides of March&quot; (Columbia Pictures)
&mdash; Mike Epps, &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
&mdash; Bryce Dallas Howard, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)
&mdash; Cicely Tyson, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)
&mdash; Kim Wayans, &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; Maya Rudolph, &quot;Bridesmaids&quot; (Universal Pictures)
&mdash; Octavia Spencer, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
&mdash; &quot;I Will Follow&quot; (AFFRM)
&mdash; &quot;Kinyarwanda&quot; (AFFRM)
&mdash; &quot;MOOZ-lum&quot; (AFFRM)
&mdash; &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; &quot;The First Grader&quot; (National Geographic Entertainment)

Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture
&mdash; &quot;A Separation&quot; (Sony Pictures Classics)
&mdash; &quot;Attack the Block&quot; (Screen Gems)
&mdash; &quot;In the Land of Blood and Honey&quot; (FilmDistrict)
&mdash; &quot;Le Havre&quot; (Janus Films)
&mdash; &quot;Life, Above All&quot; (Sony Pictures Classics)

DOCUMENTARY

Outstanding Documentary - (Theatrical or Television)
&mdash; &quot;Beats, Rhymes &amp; Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest&quot; (Sony
Pictures Classics)
&mdash; &quot;Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey&quot; (Submarine Deluxe)
&mdash; &quot;Sing Your Song&quot; (HBO Documentary Films)
&mdash; &quot;The Rescuers&quot; (Michael King Productions)
&mdash; &quot;Thunder Soul&quot; (Roadside Attractions)

WRITING

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Arthur Harris, &quot;Reed Between the Lines,&quot; Let's Talk About Ms.
Helen's Son Part 1 (BET)
&mdash; Prentice Penny, &quot;Happy Endings,&quot; The Girl with the David Tattoo (ABC)
&mdash; Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil, &quot;The Game,&quot; Parachutes....Beach Chairs
(BET)
&mdash; Vali Chandrasekaran, &quot;30 Rock,&quot; It's Never Too Late For Now (NBC)
&mdash; Vince Cheung, Ben Montanio, &quot;Wizards of Waverly Place,&quot; Wizards vs.
Angels (Disney Channel)

Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series
&mdash; Cheo Hodari Coker, &quot;SouthLAnd,&quot; Punching Water (TNT)
&mdash; Janine Sherman Barrois, &quot;Criminal Minds,&quot; The Bittersweet Science
(CBS)
&mdash; Lolis Eric Elie, &quot;Treme,&quot; Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get the Blues?
(HBO)
&mdash; Pam Veasey, &quot;Ringer,&quot; Oh Gawd, There's Two of Them? (The CW)
&mdash; Zoanne Clack, &quot;Grey's Anatomy,&quot; I Will Survive (ABC)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)
&mdash; Alrick Brown, &quot;Kinyarwanda&quot; (AFFRM)
&mdash; Ann Peacock, &quot;The First Grader&quot; (National Geographic Entertainment)
&mdash; Dee Rees, &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; Elizabeth Hunter, Arlene Gibbs, &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)
&mdash; Tate Taylor, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)

DIRECTING

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
&mdash; Jay Chandrasekhar, &quot;Happy Endings,&quot; The Girl with the David Tattoo
(ABC)
&mdash; Kevin Hooks, &quot;Drop Dead Diva,&quot; Mother's Day (Lifetime)
&mdash; Leonard R. Garner Jr., &quot;Rules of Engagement,&quot; The Set Up (CBS)
&mdash; Miguel Arteta, &quot;How to Make It in America,&quot;  Mofongo (HBO)
&mdash; Salim Akil, &quot;The Game,&quot; Parachutes/Beach Chairs (BET)

Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series
&mdash; Ernest Dickerson, &quot;Treme,&quot; Do Watcha Wanna (HBO)
&mdash; Ken Whittingham, &quot;Parenthood,&quot; Opening Night (NBC)
&mdash; Kevin Sullivan, &quot;NCIS,&quot; Tell-All (CBS)
&mdash; Paris Barclay, &quot;Sons of Anarchy,&quot; Out (FX Network)
&mdash; Seith Mann, &quot;Dexter,&quot; Get Gellar (Showtime)

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)
&mdash; Alrick Brown, &quot;Kinyarwanda&quot; (AFFRM)
&mdash; Angelina Jolie, &quot;In the Land of Blood and Honey&quot; (FilmDistrict)
&mdash; Dee Rees, &quot;Pariah&quot; (Focus Features)
&mdash; Salim Akil, &quot;Jumping the Broom&quot; (TriStar Pictures)
&mdash; Tate Taylor, &quot;The Help&quot; (DreamWorks Pictures/Participant
Media/Touchstone Pictures)]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[George Lucas says he's ready to retire]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/George-Lucas-says-hes-ready-to-retire-137631533.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:43:01 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; George Lucas' cinematic  tribute to the Tuskegee  Airmen, &quot;Red Tails,&quot; opens in theaters on  Friday, and it might be the  last opportunity for fans to see a more  commercial Lucas production.

Lucas, who executive produced the  biopic about  African-American World War II pilots, tells the New York  Times that he's ready to call it quits. From blockbusters, anyway.

&quot;I'm retiring. I'm moving away from the business, from the company, from all kinds of stuff,&quot; the &quot;Star Wars&quot; legend said.

Instead,  with what sounds like a possible exception for a fifth  &quot;Indiana Jones&quot;  movie, Lucas would like to focus on more &quot;personal&quot; ventures (a.k.a.,  art films). And it doesn't  sound like any of those more experimental  movies would be attached to the  &quot;Star Wars&quot; franchise.

&quot;Why would  I make any more ['Star Wars' movies] when everybody yells  at you all  the time and says what a terrible person you are?&quot; Lucas  inquired.  Besides, he says of the criticism he's received from fans of  the  franchise, &quot;I think there are a lot more important things in the   world.&quot;]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['Electric Company' clip recalls Morgan Freeman's early years ]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Electric-Company-clip-recalls-Morgan-Freemans-early-years--137431508.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:56:18 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; It doesn't get much more  elegant than Sidney  Poitier and Helen Mirren presenting Morgan Freeman  with a Golden Globes  honor, as they did on Sunday, but whomever crafted  the highlight reel of Freeman's career included an ingenious little  clip to remind us of the actor's  beginnings.

Freeman, 74, was  this year's esteemed recipient of the Cecil B.  DeMille award. As Dame  Mirren introduced his varied body of work, which  includes everything  from playing a president to playing  Nelson Mandela to playing God,  viewers  were treated to the sight of a younger Freeman taking a bath in  a casket  as a vampire on the '70s kids show &quot;The Electric Company.&quot;

Although   the clip is a little grainy, Freeman's voice is unmistakeable as he   sings of the wonders of a casket bubble bath - obviously teaching   youngsters about the letter &quot;c.&quot;

Watching his career unfold via  that series of snippets on Sunday,  Freeman remarked  that he'd realized  two things: How many actors he's worked with whom he  truly admires,  and how much fun he's had.

&quot;It's been said that if you do what you  love, you'll never have to  work a day in your life,&quot; Freeman told the  audience. &quot;So for the past 45  years or so, I've never had to work....My  passion has always been  acting.&quot;

Even when he's portraying a vampire who enjoys a good soak in his casket.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Movie Review: 'Joyful Noise']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Latifah-and-Parton-cross-swords-in-A-Joyful-Noise-137126423.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:57:23 PST</pubDate>
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Earlier this week, Tim Tebow continued his seemingly divine inspiration by leading the Denver Broncos to a dramatic overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Meanwhile, this weekend Oscar nominees, Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, will be hoping for a heavenly box office return for their gospel drama, &ldquo;A Joyful Noise.&rdquo;

Lending their acting and singing talents to writer/director Todd Graff&rsquo;s feel good tale, the two play strong-willed women of small town, Pacashau, Georgia choir that dreams of competing for the National Joyful Noise title in Los Angeles.

However, Vi Rose Hill (Latifah) and G. G. Sparrow (Parton) differ on their approaches; Hill wants to stick to a tried and tested traditional style, while Sparrow insists that a bit of jazzy modernization is called for.

As it turns out, Sparrow is the widow of the band&rsquo;s choirmaster (Kris Kristofferson), who succumbs to a heart attack in the opening minutes.

She is a bit miffed that the church board &mdash; led by Pastor Dale (Courtney B. Vance) &mdash; appoints Hill as the choir leader, especially as she controls its purse strings.

Adding to their discord is a sort of &ldquo;American Idol&rdquo; meets &ldquo;Footloose&rdquo; backbeat: Sparrow&rsquo;s rebellious grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan), breezes into town right into the gilded arms of Hill&rsquo;s sweet, responsible daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer).

From a dramatic point of view, the film curiously veers from saccharine Americana &mdash; life lessons and hugging &mdash; to some raw intensity, particularly in a scene where Olivia disrespects her mother and is rebuked with a forceful slap across the face.

Palmer (who has grown up before our eyes ever since she starred in 2006&rsquo;s &ldquo;Akeelah and the Bee&rdquo;) and Jordan more than hold their own in the musical numbers with their illustrious co-stars.

Palmer&rsquo;s vocal power is especially impressive in a cover of Michael Jackson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Man in the Mirror.&rdquo;

Plus, there&rsquo;s a touching performance by young actor Dexter Darden, who plays Hill&rsquo;s autistic son, Walter.

In what has become Hollywood&rsquo;s go to disorder, he suffers from Asperger&rsquo;s syndrome.

Channeling Stevie Wonder with his dark glasses and bobbing head, Walter&rsquo;s repetitive, high-functioning behavior includes being able to name every one-hit wonder that ever charted.

But to his credit, Graff also adds a touch of biting wit &mdash; first with one of the Black female singers who thinks she is going to be cursed romantically after she sleeps with an Asian choir member and he unfortunately expires.

Then, building up the tension between Hill and Sparrow that culminates in a physical fight in a restaurant after the two have traded barbs about Parton&rsquo;s real life plastic surgery obsession and Latifah&rsquo;s expanded girth.

Apart from its built-in church audience, the film may also resonate with movie goers who are familiar with the real life gospel competitions that pit choirs from all over the country against each other &mdash; often culminating in finales at large arenas that normally host tens of thousands of NBA fans.

Gospel icon Kirk Franklin has a cameo as the choir leader of Pacashau&rsquo;s perennial nemesis, who are somewhat conveniently disqualified in the heats for fielding professional singers.

Recalling his inspiration of the real gospel competitions, Graff said: &ldquo;They have become enormous over the past decade or so. I went to one in Newark, New Jersey that was sold out &mdash; 18,000 seats. They sell out the Staples Center. Choirs perform from all over the country &mdash; big choirs, small choirs, praise dancers. These things are a huge deal.&rdquo;]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Movie Review: 'The Iron Lady']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Movie-Review-The-Iron-Lady-136482408.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:51:54 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; Much like Clint Eastwood's  &quot;J. Edgar&quot; before it, Phyllida Lloyd's &quot;The Iron Lady&quot; (from a script by  &quot;Shame&quot; writer Abi Morgan) fails partly due to its attempt at covering  the entire life of a controversial figure by taking a rather dull,  middle of the road position on their life and partly by whitewashing  what that person did.

In this case, the subject is Margaret  Thatcher, Great Britain's first (and to date, only) female Prime  Minister and the first female head of state of any Western  industrialized nation.

Her rise to power from grocer's daughter to  the leader of one of the most powerful nations on Earth is almost  fairytale-like. It is a story that likely caused any number of young  women around the world to re-evaluate their positions in society.  Unfortunately, &quot;The Iron Lady&quot; is not the rousing feminist call to  action that it may seem.

It is, in fact, something quite the opposite.

Thatcher  is positioned as the lone female voice against the hoards of braying  and guffawing male MPs and thus, anyone who speaks against her, must by  definition be a misogynist troglodyte. All of the opposition's speeches  in Parliament are portrayed as sexist snipes (of which I am sure there  were many) but the idea that there was actually political ideology  behind the cat calls and derogatory comments (not to mention opposition  speeches that weren't directed at her gender) is pretty much ignored.

One  particularly galling sequence juxtaposes stock footage of scenes of  civil unrest and London streets filling with garbage due to a sanitation  workers strike with some rousing conservative speeches by Thatcher,  thus implying that if you're not with Thatcher, the alternative is chaos  and violence.

While the film is not as spectacularly bad as &quot;J.  Edgar,&quot; it does suffer from the same sort of hagiography that plagued  that film. While Thatcher is certainly to be admired as a strong woman  who smashed through centuries of male-dominated global politics, many  also hold her responsible for more than her fair share of mistakes  perpetrated on British society, political prisoners and arguably, the  Argentine Navy.

The leader has been criticized for her handling of  violence in Northern Ireland, several crippling labor strikes and her  decision to enter into war with Argentina over that country's invasion  of the British-owned Falkland Islands in 1982.

Of all of this,  only the Falklands War receives much attention in the film  (notwithstanding the aforementioned stock footage) and the veracity of  some of what the film says about the war is debatable. For a film about  arguably the most important female political leader since Queen  Elizabeth I, &quot;The Iron Lady&quot; is shockingly bereft of politics.

Another  thing the film has in common with the aforementioned Eastwood film is  that it is, by and large, rather boring and not only that, speculative.  Here is a woman who lived and ruled during a time of social and  political upheaval both in Great Britain and around the world, but the  film barely acknowledges that and what it does portray occasionally  strays from what is generally regarded as the truth. The fact that  events are presented as the memories of an increasingly foggy mind  doesn't excuse this.

Amid all the negatives, one hugely positive  thing that can be said about &quot;The Iron Lady&quot; is that Meryl Streep gives  an exceptional performance. Her accent is spot on and she really does  look the part. But however great those aspects are, they are purely  cosmetic, after all. What really sets Streep apart from other actors  playing older this year (ahem) are her body language and voice.

When  playing the middle-aged Thatcher (54, when she was first elected prime  minister), Streep is actually playing six years her own junior, but you  wouldn't know it, given the rather stodgy and conservative manner of her  subject. It is here that Streep has the most scenery to chew as the  woman who earned the titular nickname, giving speeches and going  toe-to-toe with both her Labour Party adversaries and occasionally, her  increasingly marginalized husband Sir Denis Thatcher (an excellent Jim  Broadbent).

However, it is as the older, at times doddering,  Thatcher that Streep does the more subtle and to me, affecting work. She  shrinks and stoops and putters around, hallucinating (and arguing with)  the ghost of her long-dead husband, but is never far from the younger,  more vibrant and fiery politician of the 1980s. She's a semi-befuddled  old woman who is slowly dipping into senility and knows it. It is at  times, a heartbreaking portrayal.

The Iron Lady is rated PG-13  (Parents Strongly Cautioned). I can't imagine anyone under the age of 30  being remotely interested in this film, so there's not much to  &quot;caution&quot; parents about.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Q&A: 'Pariah' director Dee Rees]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Filmmaker-Dee-Rees--136286743.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">136286743</guid>		
			<pubDate>Thu, 5 Jan 2012 15:08:42 PST</pubDate>
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Preaching the gospel of love and acceptance of who we are, debut feature filmmaker Dee Rees&rsquo; &ldquo;Pariah,&rdquo; is a semi-autobiographical drama about a 17-year-old New Yorker&rsquo;s struggle with her sexuality.

Set in Brooklyn&rsquo;s Fort Greene neighborhood, it chronicles college bound tomboy Alike (Adepero Oduye), a budding poet who lives with her deeply religious mother, Audrey (Kim Wayans), who works in a hospital and resentful father, Arthur (Charles Parnell), an NYPD detective.

Their younger daughter, Sharonda (Sahra Mellesse), a girlish polar opposite of Alike, verbally spar like only sisters can.

Knowing that she is attracted to women, Alike keeps her homosexuality out of the home, although the tension between her parents hints at denial, but is slowly embracing a gay identity through the support of her confident lesbian best friend, Laura (Pernell Walker).

They frequent a gay nightclub, where Laura is the life and soul of the party and Alike is the proverbial wall flower.

But she is eager to find a girlfriend, and an unexpected opportunity comes through meeting Bina (Asha Davis), the daughter of one of Audrey&rsquo;s church-going friends, who she ironically hopes will influence her daughter to be more like a proper, young woman.

Based on her 2007 short, Rees&rsquo; film was a critical hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January, earning director of photography Bradford Young the Excellence in Cinematography Award.

However, it was a struggle for it to be made, Rees and her producer Nekisa Cooper put their own money into the film and it was helped by the patronage of executive producer Spike Lee, who Rees had interned for on &ldquo;Inside Man&rdquo; and &ldquo;When the Levees Broke,&rdquo; as a graduate film student at New York University.

Here Rees talks to Olu Alemoru about her six year journey to make the feature, the themes behind the film, the cast, and what directing advice Lee gave her.

How did you conceive the idea and how did the short change from the feature?
Actually, it all started out as a feature. I wrote the first draft of the feature script in the summer of 2005, as I was going through my own coming-out process. I grew up in the Nashville suburbs, I&rsquo;m like a nerd who went to a magnet school, so Alike&rsquo;s journey in Brooklyn is not really my life.

But her struggle with her spirituality and sexuality resonates, and I also went through the parental and identity struggle. When I came out I knew I loved women, but didn&rsquo;t know how to be; like Alike I went to the lesbian clubs, but I was not hard enough to be butch and not soft enough to be femme, I was somewhere in between.

The original script is 140 pages; the characters in the feature are a lot more complex than in the short, especially Audrey and Arthur.

What was it about Adepero that captured your imagination and how did you cast the rest of the roles?
I knew she was perfect for the role when she came in. Back in 2006, she showed up on the very first day of auditions for the short wearing her little brother&rsquo;s clothes, and was completely focused. It was like she has walked out of my pages.

She was totally submerged and had no vanity about being this person, she stayed in character and just trusted us. Also, as a first-generation Nigerian immigrant who has grown up in New York City, she has experienced being an outsider and the struggle to define her identity. But in real life, she&rsquo;s totally different from the character. When people see her off screen, they&rsquo;re like wow; she&rsquo;s like 17 years older and really acting.

Finding the parents was actually harder. We used a casting director Eyde Belasco, who we met through the Sundance Film labs. Every Audrey we&rsquo;d seen tended to give me the surface, angry Black momma thing, but Kim was the first one to get Audrey&rsquo;s core, she got the loneliness and vulnerability.

I also saw a couple of Arthur&rsquo;s, but they didn&rsquo;t quite have that mix of a strong type, who also has a sensivity, but when Charles came into the room I could feel and believe in him. The DNA worked out, you could believe that those two parents could produce those two kids.

What was your own experience in coming out?
I was raised Catholic, my parents weren&rsquo;t very accepting. When they realized I was serious and that it wasn&rsquo;t a phase, both my parents came in and staged an intervention. For a few months, they sent e-mails and cards, letters and Bible verses to make me think and change. It&rsquo;s taken seven years, they don&rsquo;t accept that I&rsquo;m gay, but they love me and support the film. I guess that&rsquo;s as good as it gets, because we never have arguments.

What directing advice did Spike give you?
The best advice he gave me was put it all on the screen; you don&rsquo;t get to explain what you are trying to do or what it was supposed to be.

How have Black audiences, in particular, reacted and what message do you want them to take from the film?
We&rsquo;ve shown it to a nice cross section; there isn&rsquo;t just [some] monolithic blackness out there, everyone speaks different, listens to different music and has different ways of living. I think people will be able to relate to it.

I wanted to show that as we move through this world we&rsquo;re sometimes asked to leave parts of ourselves behind; as a gay woman, you&rsquo;re asked to leave your blackness behind and as a Black woman you&rsquo;re asked to leave your gayness behind. Alike learns to combine her worlds, she doesn&rsquo;t have to wear costumes or have certain attitudes.

We screened the film in D.C. and a woman stood up, she looked conservative and she said &lsquo;I understand Audrey,&rsquo; and I was like, okay, what&rsquo;s she gonna say now. But she said, &lsquo;I see how I should be with my kids, I should love them and accept them.&rsquo; That was a huge deal for me; she spoke word for word what I wanted people to take away.

Photo: (l to r) Adepero Oduye and Kim Wayans share a tense moment as mother and daughter in &quot;Pariah.&quot; Credit: Focus Features



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			<title><![CDATA[Tom Cruise delivers huge thrills in 'Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Tom-Cruise-delivers-huge-thrills-in-Mission-Impossible-4-136033333.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">136033333</guid>		
			<pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:42:34 PST</pubDate>
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It&rsquo;s funny to think of arguably the world&rsquo;s biggest and bankable movie star having to prove himself, but there seemed to be a heightened feeling of expectancy going into Tom Cruise&rsquo;s latest &ldquo;Mission Impossible&rdquo; installment.

After all, cantankerous media magnate Sumner Redstone, whose Paramount Pictures studio is behind the franchise, publicly ripped Cruise for torpedoing the box office of &ldquo;MI3&rdquo; when the movie icon had his infamous couch-jumping episode on the Oprah Winfrey Show, then angered his female fan base by going off on Brooke Shields for using pharmaceuticals to fight postpartum depression.

And last year&rsquo;s &ldquo;Knight and Day,&rdquo; which teamed Cruise with film siren Cameron Diaz, got a decidedly lukewarm reception from critics and audiences alike.

However, Cruise and Redstone publicly buried the hatchet, and with &ldquo;Mission: Impossible &mdash; Ghost Protocol,&rdquo; the mojo is back as Cruise delivers one of the biggest action thrill rides of the year.

Cruise is joined by an excellent cast, who I&rsquo;ll get to in a moment, but kudos must go to a creative team that included screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, visual effects supervisor John Knoll and director Brad Bird (&ldquo;The Incredibles&rdquo;), making his live action debut.

Plus, let&rsquo;s not forget a usually unheralded cadre of amazing stunt performers, who basically defy all sorts of gravity in a litany of pulsating set pieces.

Re-energizing his role as IMF (Impossible Mission Force) operative Ethan Hunt, Cruise is re-teamed with wisecracking technical wizard and newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and welcomes a new supporting cast of bad-ass agents: Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner).

In a little aside, Renner, may or may not be the future of the franchise if and when the Top Gun star decides to hang up his rope wire.

But for now, Cruise and his team find themselves on their own, sans backup or any IMF resources, after a mission goes awry in Moscow.

In a Bondesque plot harking back to the Cold War, the group has been assigned to intercept a courier carrying nuclear launch codes, but they are outfoxed when a huge explosion rocks the Kremlin, the U.S. president invokes &ldquo;Ghost Protocol&rdquo; &mdash; a complete shutdown of the agency.

Thus, agent Hunt, a usual lone wolf, must trust in his two new comrades, reservations and all.

For instance, Carter is vowing revenge on a contract killer who took out her agent boyfriend, and Brandt is not originally what he seemed after first passing himself off as a desk-bound analyst.

Bird also delivers an irreverent Hunt; as when Cruise receives the &ldquo;this-message-will-self-destruct&rdquo; line in a Russian phone booth and nothing happens, prompting him to bang the receiver until it does.

Moving at breakneck speed, the film makes terrific use of exotic locations and boasts a notable international acting troupe.

There&rsquo;s Anil Kapoor (&ldquo;Slumdog Millionaire&rdquo;) as an Indian communications magnate; Swedish star Michael Nyqvist, playing the charmingly insane sociopath hellbent on blowing up the world; and cold-eyed French actress and model L&eacute;a Seydoux, who plays a ruthless assassin.

As for those amazing set-pieces, their capture on giant IMAX cameras almost puts the viewer in the frame itself.

That&rsquo;s especially true for perhaps the most daring action sequence &mdash; in which Cruise, without the use of a stunt double, scales the tallest building in the world, Dubai&rsquo;s Burj Khalifa tower.

Photo: In a death- and gravity-defying stunt, Tom Cruise hangs off Dubai's Khalifa tower in &quot;Mission: Impossible &mdash; Ghost Protocol.&quot;]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Roman Polanski and playwright Yasmin wreak 'Carnage']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Roman-Polanski-and-playwright-Yasmin-re-135768958.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">135768958</guid>		
			<pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:32:24 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	







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&ldquo;Carnage,&rdquo; the film adaptation of Yazmin Reza&rsquo;s hit play &ldquo;God of Carnage,&rdquo; is another pitch-perfect example of her  expertise in viciously satirizing the bourgeoisie.

And It&rsquo;s another feather in the cap for the French playwright, author and screenwriter, who rose to international fame with her play &ldquo;Art,&rdquo; which has been performed in 35 languages and grossed over $200 million.

Taking a deceptively simple, if violent incident between two boys in a park, the real incendiary fireworks occur when the parents of the perpetrator meet those of the victim in an attempt to resolve their issues.

But what starts as a polite discussion on childrearing soon becomes a battleground for verbal warfare between the couples: John C. Reilly (Michael Longstreet) and Jodie Foster (Penelope Longstreet); and Chistoph Waltz (Alan Cowan) and Nancy Cowan (Kate Winslet).

The film is superbly directed by Roman Polanski, whose fugitive situation will no doubt be discussed ad nauseum as the award nominations pile up, and the screenplay is by Polanski and Reza.

As the victim couple, Reilly and Foster play an oafish houseware supply salesman and bleeding heart liberal author, in stark contrast to the sneering, cocky lawyer and self-aggrandizing investment broker of Waltz and Winslet.

The action takes place in one location and affords its actors terrifically juicy lines, as the adults&rsquo; behavior becomes increasingly more juvenile and eventually exposes class and political tension, while revealing marital discord on a nuclear level.

&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve pretended to be liberal all night,&rdquo; Reilly spits at his wife at one point, after breaking out his prized bottle of Scotch.

And, of course, with no less than three Academy Award winners &mdash; John C. Reilly is probably not far off &mdash; on view for most of the 90 minutes, it seems almost churlish to pick a favorite.

But Waltz&rsquo;s deliciously villainous performance is, as they say, worth the ticket price alone.

The relentless pace of angst and melodrama is reminiscent of Edward Albee&rsquo;s American classic, &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?&rdquo; immortalized on film by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and also apes Britain&rsquo;s premier social satirist, Mike Leigh.

In particular, it recalls Leigh&rsquo;s renowned teleplay, &ldquo;Abigail&rsquo;s Party,&rdquo; where a boring party thrown by the parents of a teenage girl erupts into a deliciously comic tragedy.

Photo: (l to r) Reilly, Foster, Waltz and Winslet, spar with malice aforethought in &quot;Carnage.&quot; Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

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			<title><![CDATA[Movie Review: 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Sherlock-Holmes-A-Game-of-Shadows-135769788.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">135769788</guid>		
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:06:49 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	







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&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so overt, it&rsquo;s covert.&rdquo;

Taking a line from Director Guy Ritchie&rsquo;s latest installment, &ldquo;Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,&rdquo; it is very fitting for the quirky flick that has helped to change Robert Downey Jr.&rsquo;s reputation as a bad-boy &mdash; from 1996 to 2001 he had several run-ins with the law &mdash; to a butt-kicking incarnation of the classic British detective.

In the sequel, Downey Jr. and Jude Law reprise their roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. But this time around, the two embark on an even more dangerous adventure as they seek to prevent a world war that is designed to peak the sale of firearms and other massive destructive weapons. As a series of terrorist bombings, thought to be at the hands of anarchists, rip through Europe,  social unrest threatens foreign relations. Clues lead Holmes to a gypsy (Noomi Rapace) who is next on his arch-nemesis, James Moriarty (Jared Harris), hit list. It will take wit and man power to overthrow Moriarty&rsquo;s efforts.

While many director&rsquo;s create social suicide when they produce sequels, Ritchie&rsquo;s own perceptiveness and ability to create visually appealing graphics boil over on screen. All that is needed is a prime setting, explosives, gun fights, slow-motion fight sequences and lots of suspense. And let&rsquo;s not forget, talent, which he was not short of gathering. Ritchie somehow was able to break the mold and give audiences a movie that surpasses the first, being sure not to muddle the film with cheesy subplots.

And to his credit, the film kept its fast pace from beginning to end, only slowing down momentarily to hone in on Holmes&rsquo; manic state &mdash; he is seen drinking formaldehyde and experimenting on Watson&rsquo;s dog &mdash; and his prized intuition, which comes in handy during the slow-motion fight sequences.

Interestingly, Ritchie injects Moriarty, giving Holmes&rsquo; a true challenge, for he is just as scintillating. The two engage in this constant cat-and-mouse chase that leaves audiences on the edge of their seat wondering who will reign the victor.

Downey Jr. comes back with a vengeance in this film, methodically taking on the role and making it extremely believable. His ability to remain calm in stressful, high-impact situations lends itself to Holmes&rsquo; mental unbalance &mdash; one moment he is drinking embalming fluid and experimenting with a variety of disguises and the next he has spontaneous moments of clarity.

Law, though Holmes&rsquo; sidekick, is nothing but; his character and acting prowess shine all on their own. We also get a glimpse of Holmes&rsquo; brother, Mycroft Homes (Stephen Fry), a tall, chubby fellow who is just as astute and shrewd, but not fit enough to actively engage in combat. Nonetheless, he is a necessity because it is he who can help Holmes&rsquo; get closer to solving the strange case &mdash; Fry is in the political arena and rubs elbows with the most elite.

But what kind of film would it be without beautiful women to play their counterparts, well sort of. Though their roles were brief, Kelly Reilly, plays Law&rsquo;s soon-to-be wife, and Rachel McAdams is Holmes&rsquo; love interest despite her ever fleeting ways. Audiences may have enjoyed viewing Reilly more, for she proves that she too can whoop some butt, but it may have taken away from the rich chemistry displayed by Law and Downey Jr.

In the end, &ldquo;Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow&rdquo; does not disappoint and is a must-see.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['The Help's' Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer may find Oscar gold]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Could-Viola-Davis-and-Octavia-Spencer-find-Oscar-gold-with-The-Help-135420003.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">135420003</guid>		
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:25:59 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	



				
	
	
	


		

																		



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One of the best reviewed movies of 2011 &mdash; which became a beacon for  inspiration and criticism &mdash; is back in the news in time for this year's  awards season and has the potential to recognize two fine performances  by Black actresses.

&ldquo;The Help,&rdquo; which painted a harrowing, but ultimately dignified  picture of the lives of Black maids in 1960s Mississippi, was a hit with  most film critics and, according to the website Box Office Mojo, has  earned nearly $200 million worldwide for a film that cost around $25  million.

However, a number of Black cultural critics expressed displeasure at  what they saw as a familiar &mdash; and condescending &mdash; Hollywood trope in its  story of a White writer (portrayed by Emma Stone) who helps liberate  the spirit of the domestic servants by enlisting their help to write a  book about their experiences.

Based on the best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett &mdash; adapted for the  screen and directed by Tate Taylor &mdash; it stars Viola Davis and Octavia  Spencer, who play two of the central women.

Davis, a 2009 Academy Award nomination for &ldquo;Doubt&rdquo; and relative  newcomer Spencer, could be major contenders for the likes of the Golden  Globes, the SAG Awards and the big one, the Feb. 26, 2012 Oscar  telecast.

The movie&rsquo;s Blu-ray Combo Pack, released Dec. 6 by Touchstone Home  Entertainment, contains featurettes, like &ldquo;The Making of &lsquo;The Help:&rsquo;  From Friendship To Film,&rdquo; an intimate look at how the life-changing  experiences of childhood friends Stockett and Taylor led the creation of  the novel and its transition to the big screen.

Additional bonus material includes &ldquo;In Their Own Words: A Tribute To  the Maids of Mississippi,&rdquo; an observation of that time by real-life  maids, deleted scenes and &ldquo;The Living Proof&rdquo; music video by R&amp;B star  Mary J. Blige.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Eddie Murphy attached to developing Marion Barry biopic]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/135397783.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">135397783</guid>		
			<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:32:33 PST</pubDate>
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(CNN) &mdash; HBO Films is said to be  working on a TV biopic  about infamous former Washington, D.C. mayor  Marion Barry, with Eddie  Murphy attached to star if it comes to  fruition, reports the Washington Post.

The untitled project is  still in development, but if it goes through,  Spike Lee would be at the  helm as director and John Ridley is attached  to write the script. Lee,  Ridley and Murphy would also serve as the TV  film's executive  producers.

The Post notes that this isn't the first time attempts have been made to bring Barry's controversial history to the screen.

In  2002,  Jamie Foxx was the intended star in another HBO project called  &quot;Livin'  for the City: The Marion Barry Story.&quot; Chris Rock was on board  as the  executive producer, but the paper reports that the film never   materialized.

In 2009, the same year that Barry was arrested on  stalking charges that were later dropped, a documentary about the  politician, &quot;The Nine Lives of Marion Barry,&quot; aired on HBO.

Spike Lee and Eddie Murphy photos by Shankbone; Marion Barry photo by dbking; all via Wikimedia Commons.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Q&A: The cast and crew of 'New Year's Eve']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/QA-The-cast-and-crew-of-New-Years-Eve-135357608.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 9 Dec 2011 18:31:51 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[Whether one is looking to make a wholesale life change, start a new relationship/repair an old one or simply experience a first kiss, one thing is certain: The wee hours before the next set of 365 days brings the dizzying fusion of boundless optimism, out-of-character bravery and plain old hope that makes anything seem possible. Even if it&rsquo;s just for one night.

It is on this universal axiom of human existence that director Garry Marshall and screenwriter Katherine Fugate have built the ensemble &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Eve,&rdquo; a thematic follow-up to their last collaboration, the 2010 hit romantic comedy &ldquo;Valentine&rsquo;s Day.&rdquo; As with that film, an all-star cast of actors (so many of them, in fact, they&rsquo;re sure to be working for well below their typical fee) brings to life a series of interconnected, emotionally-charged stories set in New York City &mdash; mostly exploring how love, determination and regret can often force seemingly common people to show uncommon fortitude and compassion. Among those players: Oscar winners Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank and Halle Berry, along with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, Zac Efron, Seth Meyers, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Heigl, Lea Michele, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashton Kutcher, Sofia Vergara and Chris &ldquo;Ludacris&rdquo; Bridges. And it wouldn&rsquo;t be a Garry Marshall picture without a scene-stealing role for Hector Elizondo.


On a recent Sunday in Beverly Hills, The Wave was on hand as the cast discussed the making of the film. Few of them, it turns out, had a clue what &ldquo;Auld Lang Syne&rdquo; means.

Have any of you had a particularly miserable New Year&rsquo;s Eve experience?

Duhamel: I think that if you keep expectations low &hellip;
Swank: Exactly when I stopped wanting my New Year&rsquo;s Eve to be perfect &hellip; [is] when it started working out right. I always found when I was young, I was looking for the best party to be at to ring in the New Year &mdash; and I always ended up in the car going [flatly], &ldquo;Happy New Year.&rdquo;
 
Marshall: I got to kiss the girl I really liked, and then she turned around and kissed seven other people. Not a good night at all.


How difficult was it to build so many stories with so many stars with different time requirements?

Marshall: [For] many, this is the first time they&rsquo;re meeting these stars, because they weren&rsquo;t in the same scenes &hellip; What is pretty startling is [that] they could all act pretty good, it turns out, and so when they showed up &hellip; we connected well and we moved along. The biggest thing I had to do was hug them &mdash; not because I was so attracted, but because they were freezing. So we all hugged each other a lot.

Who were you excited to meet?



Swank: I have a nice story. I got to work with Robert De Niro &mdash; and for me, he is on the bucket list. He is at the top of the list of people I have to work with before it&rsquo;s all said and done. So I got to check that off. My first two days was with him was the real dramatic stuff and I thought, &ldquo;Well this isn&rsquo;t very funny.&rdquo; &hellip; So I go in and Halle Berry and Robert were in the room, and they had been working all morning and they&rsquo;ve got their thing going, and I am kind of the outsider here &mdash; I don&rsquo;t even know the crew or anything. And &hellip; I am just trying to get a sense of the vibe before I work, and I walk in and Robert&rsquo;s in the bed and you know he is kind of lying there. So you hear all this stuff about Robert De Niro and he&rsquo;s a [method] actor &hellip; and [his character is] dying, so I don&rsquo;t want to get in anyone&rsquo;s way. So he was lying there, and I am like, &ldquo;Wow.&rdquo; &hellip; He is kind of giving it to me, like we are connected here. We are connected. Me and De Niro, method. And so I am getting kind of emotional, but the camera is not on me &hellip; we&rsquo;re just getting into the mood of father-daughter. A father dying, you know &hellip; I am feeling it. I am going deep with De Niro. The next thing I know, he&rsquo;s saying, &ldquo;Anyone got that coffee ?&rdquo; I am like, &ldquo;Oh my God, he was sleeping.&rdquo; He was gone before I ever got there. He had been in that bed all day.

What is your favorite way to spend New Year&rsquo;s Eve? And do you have any special plans this year?

Michele: I do the same thing every New Year&rsquo;s. I have done it for the past seven years now. I am from New York, [so] I did the Times Square thing once and I will never do it again, but New Yorkers have this special spot in Central Park where they do a 5K run the minute the clock strikes 12. I ran once, I will never do it again but it is awesome to watch these people run. It&rsquo;s such a great environment and place to be &mdash; so that&rsquo;s where I&rsquo;ll be.
Swank: Well, while Lea is running &hellip; I&rsquo;ll be eating pie and drinking champagne and cheering you on.

Michele: I drink champagne &mdash; and that&rsquo;s why I am not running again, because both of those combined doesn&rsquo;t work very well.

Swank: I actually &hellip; stopped trying to chase the perfect place to be, and realized the perfect place to be is with your loved ones and with your few closest friends, around the dinner table over a good meal, talking about the past year and the year to come. And I never make it to midnight. Ever.

Pfeiffer: I also never make it to midnight. I watch, I celebrate New Years at 9 p.m. west coast time. I watch the ball drop in my jammies with some champagne, maybe some pie &mdash; whatever happens to be around. I stopped setting those unrealistic expectations for New Year&rsquo;s Eve many years ago.

Efron: Yeah, we&rsquo;re going to change that. You&rsquo;re coming out with me this year.



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			<title><![CDATA[Harry Potter theme park headed for Hollywood]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Harry-Potter-theme-park-headed-for-Hollywood-135219403.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">135219403</guid>		
			<pubDate>Wed, 7 Dec 2011 19:30:30 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[Muggles will have another opportunity to slip into Harry Potter's magical world at a new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Universal Parks CEO Tom Williams promises the planned Southern California attraction will be "every bit as spectacular" as the first Harry Potter park, which opened in 2010 at Universal Orlando in Florida. That successful Harry Potter theme park will be significantly expanded, Williams also announced Tuesday.

Hogwarts Castle, which houses the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry featured in the "Harry Potter" series, will be the Hollywood park's centerpiece, as it is in Orlando. Details on the timing of the new park and expansion have not been released.

The new California park is likely to bring millions of tourist dollars.

"It's a huge win for the Los Angeles tourism industry," Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Beth Brett wrote in an e-mail.

"The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimates that every 1 million additional visitors that come to Universal Studios Hollywood for the Harry Potter attraction will generate $147 million in spending in the county," she wrote.

The Orlando Harry Potter attraction's opening brought an immediate boost to Universal Orlando. Wizarding World's opening halfway through 2010 boosted overall paid admissions to Universal's Orlando parks by 20 percent in 2010 over 2009, according to financial documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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			<title><![CDATA['Rude' Alec Baldwin fled to toilet, booted from plane]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Rude-Alec-Baldwin-fled-to-toilet-booted-from-plane-135204698.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 7 Dec 2011 14:37:08 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

(CNN) &mdash; An American  Airlines pilot booted Alec Baldwin off a flight Tuesday because the  actor refused to turn off his cell phone after the plane's doors were  closed for departure, the airline said Wednesday.

&quot;The passenger  was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and  using offensive language,&quot; the company said in a statement posted on its  Facebook page.

Baldwin's spokesman blamed his addiction to the cell phone game &quot;Words with Friends.&quot;

&quot;He  loves WWF so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it, but he  has already boarded another AA flight,&quot; spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said  in an e-mail to CNN on Tuesday afternoon.

After Baldwin refused to  turn off his cell phone, with the seat belt light on for departure, he  walked into the toilet with his phone, the airline said.

&quot;He  slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became  alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked,&quot; the airline  said. &quot;They immediately contacted the cabin crew to check on the  situation.&quot;

&quot;Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding,&quot; the company said.

Word  of Baldwin's clash with the crew spread worldwide within minutes of his  being escorted from the New York-bound flight at a Los Angeles  International Airport gate, because of Twitter postings by Baldwin and a  passenger.

&quot;On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the  plane We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to  wait,&quot; tweeted Michael J. Wolf, a consulting firm executive who was a  passenger on the flight.

A short time later, Baldwin tweeted to  his nearly 600,000 followers: &quot;Flight attendant on American reamed me  out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving.&quot;

When  CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin &mdash; no relation &mdash; tagged Alec Baldwin in a  tweet asking about &quot;Words with Friends,&quot; the actor replied,  &quot;It's...well....addicting.&quot;

&quot;Words With Friends&quot; is a digital word-building game popular on several platforms.

Another  Baldwin tweet took aim at the crew, saying he would never again fly on  American Airlines, &quot;where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the  1950's find jobs as flight attendants.&quot;

The star of NBC's &quot;30 Rock&quot; noted in his tweets that &quot;oddly, 30 Rock plays inflight on American.&quot;

A  posting on the airline's Twitter account showed the company was trying  to reach Baldwin. &quot;Mr. Baldwin, we are looking into this. Please DM us  contact information,&quot; the company tweeted.

Despite the apparent distress, Baldwin's journey resumed.

&quot;Now on the 3 o'clock American flight. The flight attendants already look.....smarter,&quot; he tweeted.

Baldwin arrived at New York's JFK Airport on an American Airlines flight Tuesday evening.

CNN's Jack Hannah and Douglas Hyde contributed to this report.]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Jennifer Hudson: My fiance saved my life ]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Jennifer-Hudson-My-fiance-saved-my-life--134483373.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:04:25 PST</pubDate>
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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

(CNN) &mdash; Jennifer Hudson opens up  about the tragic 2008 shooting that took the life of her mother, brother  and nephew in the December/January issue of Ebony, revealing that her  fiance David Otunga may have saved her life.

The 30-year-old Oscar  winner tells the magazine that it was because  of wrestler Otunga, whom  she had baby David Daniel Jr. with in 2009,  that she wasn't at home at  the time of the killings.

&quot;That's one of the things that saved my  life, because I could have been home with my mom then,&quot; Hudson tells  Ebony via People. &quot;[Otunga] wanted me to come out to Florida with him  instead of going to Chicago.&quot;

She did fly out to see him, and  &quot;that's why I'm still here,&quot; Hudson  continued. &quot;I've never said that  before, and I can't believe I just said  that now. But I didn't know. He  was just like, 'I'm going to this  wrestling thing, it's in Tampa. I'm  going out there now, so you can come  out there and see me versus going  home.'&quot;

Hudson has been largely silent on the deaths of her family  members, but she did discuss the tragedy in a 2010 episode of VH1's  &quot;Behind the Music,&quot; explaining that her slain relatives still have a  strong presence in her life.

&quot;My brother drives me in my music, my son reminds me of my nephew,&quot; she said, &quot;and being a mother reminds me of my mother.&quot;]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA['A Dangerous Method' explores some dark emotions]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/A-Dangerous-Method-explores-some-dark-emotions-134373978.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">134373978</guid>		
			<pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:11:25 PST</pubDate>
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I wonder what the early pioneers of the so-called &ldquo;talking cure&rdquo; &mdash; as psychiatry was once dubbed &mdash; would make of America&rsquo;s fascination for pop psychology in the shape of emotive professional talkers like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phillip McGraw.

&ldquo;Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment,&rdquo; is one of Winfrey&rsquo;s many rather obvious gems, while McGraw&rsquo;s simplistic &ldquo;how&rsquo;s that workin for ya,&rdquo; is delivered in his inimitable Texan drawl.

In &ldquo;A Dangerous Method,&rdquo; an altogether more complex and thought-provoking approach to the field is explored through the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and a relatively unheralded mother of psychiatry, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley).

The film is written by Academy Award-winning British playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (&ldquo;Dangerous Liaisons&rdquo;), adapted from his own stage play, &ldquo;The Talking Cure,&rdquo; which itself was based on the non-fiction book by John Kerr, &ldquo;A Most Dangerous Method.&rdquo;

It was directed by auteur filmmaker David Cronenberg (&ldquo;Naked Lunch,&rdquo; &ldquo;A History of Violence&rdquo;).
Set in the years 1904 to 1913, Hampton fictionalizes a dramatic three-way relationship between the protagonists that begins when 18-year-old Spielrein arrives at Jung&rsquo;s Burgholzli hospital in Zurich.

She has been diagnosed with hysteria, which the audience later learn has been caused by physical and mental abuse at the hands of her parents, and this sets Jung to try his mentor&rsquo;s experimental treatment known as psychoanalysis.

As he begins to unravel what is behind her behavior, Jung discovers that Spielrein is a brilliant, intellectual student and when the treatment proves successful he encourages her to pursue a career in the psychiatric field.

But Jung also crosses the Hippocratic line when Spielrein&rsquo;s affection, brought on by masochistic tendencies, thrust them into a passionate affair.

Meanwhile, writing about his latest patient in letters to Freud, a schism emerges with the older man&rsquo;s steadfast theories on the links between sexuality and emotional disorders and Jung&rsquo;s more spiritual approach to the human psyche.

Known for his witty, elegant dialogue, Hampton overcomes a rather slow start in the narrative to deliver some verbal sparks between Jung and Spielrein and exceedingly dry humor from Mortensen as Freud.

But though it&rsquo;s quite something to see Jung and Spielrein talk cleverly about ideas in their field as he proceeds to whip her with a leather belt, Hampton&rsquo;s ambitious use of metaphorical drama doesn&rsquo;t quite make for a must see experience.

Fassbender, who starred in Tarantino&rsquo;s &ldquo;Inglorious Basterds&rdquo; and is Oscar-baited for his role as a sexual loner in &ldquo;Shame,&rdquo; delivers the best performance as Jung.

Similarly, Mortensen is not far behind as a somewhat roguish Freud, contrasting the usual graying images of him in his later years.

However, unfortunately, it&rsquo;s Knightley who appears to be the weakest link; her acting was mannered and physically overwrought, like she was channeling Daniel Day Lewis in &ldquo;My Left Foot.&rdquo;

Nevertheless, Knightley should probably hang in there and follow Oprah&rsquo;s words of wisdom: &ldquo;Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.&rdquo;
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			<title><![CDATA[Debut director Alrick Brown revisits genocide horror in 'Kinyarwanda']]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Debut-director-Alrick-Brown-revisits-genocide-horror-in-Kinyarwanda-133586608.html</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 9 Nov 2011 20:14:09 PST</pubDate>
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																		                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

A young African man, appearing to be in his late teens or early twenties, charmingly sings the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton hit &ldquo;Islands in the Stream&rdquo; to his teenage sweetheart.

The young man subsequently walks the girl home and they arrive at a scene where machete-armed soldiers are about to massacre a group of people cowered on their knees.

The couple is waved away.

He is Hutu and she is Tutsi, and she will later find her parents butchered in the Rwandan ethnic genocide that claimed close to 800,000 lives, most of them Tutsi, from April-July 1994.

That&rsquo;s the mosaic presented in the opening scene of &ldquo;Kinyarwanda,&rdquo; the searing directorial debut from Alrick Brown, which is the second movie released under AFFRM, the African-American Film Releasing Movement.

The film, which had a star-studded premiere Monday night in Hollywood for the American Film Institute Festival&rsquo;s World Cinema category, opens theatrically Dec. 2 at the Laemmle Musical Hall Theater on Wilshire Boulevard.

Born in Jamaica, Brown grew up in New Jersey and spent years living in Africa following a post-college stint in the Peace Corps.

His film paints an engrossing, often difficult to watch tapestry that weaves six true stories of the genocide into a single narrative.

The title refers to a common language that both Hutus and Tutsis &mdash; who today just refer to themselves as Rwandans &mdash; speak and had unified them.

&ldquo;I see myself as a child of the diaspora and the movie came about because I actually lived in West Africa for several years as a Peace Corps volunteer,&rdquo; Brown said.

&ldquo;I left West Africa and ended up at NYU graduate film school and a [Peace Corps] buddy of mine moved to Rwanda and befriended the film&rsquo;s executive producer, Ishmael Ntihabose. I began to email Ishmael back and forth for several years and then in 2009 he got a grant to do a film about the Muslim impact on the genocide, the lives they saved and the co-operation between the Rwandan Imam and priests.&rdquo;

Brown continued: &ldquo;Ishmael called and asked me to come and help him make the movie and that&rsquo;s pretty much how it happened; I was just trying to help another filmmaker. When I got there I realized there were a lot of stories to be told about the genocide and we decided to do a story that encompassed a more comprehensive look at what happened.&rdquo;

Armed with a $250,000 grant from the European Film Fund and the invaluable cooperation of the Rwandan government, Brown said they shot the movie in just 16 days, describing it as a &ldquo;do or die&rdquo; affair.

&ldquo;I wrote the script in a few weeks, we had a couple of weeks of rehearsal prep,&rdquo; he explained.

&ldquo;Our casting director, Simon Iyarwema, brought me some amazing local people who were committed and wanted to do it, then he brought a couple of Rwandans, who had some experience in other films. We made Rwandans, who had been PA&rsquo;s on other films, heads of departments. That allowed us to have more authenticity, because most of our cast and crew had a firsthand knowledge of the genocide and that kept us honest.&rdquo;

Recalling the actual events of 1994, when he was in a high school senior, Brown reveals with a touch of irony that he &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t even sure if he cared that much.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I vaguely came across it in the news,&rdquo; the director recalled.

&ldquo;I was cognizant, you know, I wondered what had happened, [but] it just seemed like another, evil, tribal warfare kind of thing. The following year, I watched a PBS documentary when I was in college and it struck me hard because in the film I saw Americans and Rwandans who were friends at the embassy.

&ldquo;They were all standing in a group and all of the Americans were getting ready to leave on a plane. They took everything, [even] their pet dogs, but they didn&rsquo;t take the Rwandans. Someone was video taping and it fast forwards back to where the group was standing, begging to be let onto the plane to leave. Their bodies were lying in that same spot, so it&rsquo;s almost as if as soon as [the Americans] got on the plane to leave, the militia came in and killed them. That stuck with me for years.&rdquo;

When the Hollywood movies came out &mdash; most notably, Don Cheadle&rsquo;s Oscar-nominated performance in &ldquo;Hotel Rwanda&rdquo; &mdash; Brown said people began to see the emotional magnitude of the catastrophe.

However, Brown recalled that he walked out of that film feeling a little uncomfortable, but wasn&rsquo;t entirely sure why.

&ldquo;I love Don and my response was to tell everyone that you have to go see it,&quot; he said.

&quot;I saw &lsquo;Sometimes in April,&rsquo; and I was completely blown away by [Idris Elba&rsquo;s] performance. Then I saw [another PBS documentary] &lsquo;The Ghosts of Rwanda,&rsquo; which really gave an insight into the history and politics of the country.&rdquo;

Added Brown: &ldquo;But it wasn&rsquo;t until I went to Rwanda, went to the genocide museum, spoke to Rwandans, that I started to get a fuller picture of what happened in that country, from the arrival of the Belgians and the Germans. I had to tell a story people hadn&rsquo;t seen.

&ldquo;One of the biggest things in &lsquo;Hotel Rwanda,&rsquo; and I&rsquo;m not necessarily saying it&rsquo;s an inaccuracy because it&rsquo;s something we [filmmakers] do, it&rsquo;s easier to make heroes out of some and villainize others. [HR] did that very easily, it made a hero out of one man, but in war things are more complex. The Rwandans are not particular happy with him or that film, because if you didn&rsquo;t have money you couldn&rsquo;t get into that hotel, and if you ran out of money you were kicked out. Rwandans made that clear to me over and over again.&rdquo;

Despite that, Brown believes the crucial thing is to move forward, and though he says the post-genocide Rwanda government that was aided by a Ugandan military force that halted the mass killings, is still dealing with the after-effects, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;one of the most beautiful places on the planet.&quot;

&ldquo;I wrote this film for Rwandans, I kept them in the forefront of my thinking and my heart,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It would literally take 10,000 years to prosecute everybody who participated in what happened. So the government that went inside adopted policies of truth and reconciliation. They had re-education in Kocha courts, traditional local courts where people could face their accusers, and implemented different methods for the country to move on and not just be mired in litigation and vengeance.&rdquo;

Photo: Cassandra Freeman plays one of the liberating Ugandan soldiers in &quot;Kinyarwanda.&quot; Credit: AFFRM]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Kal Penn, John Cho making it a very 'Harold & Kumar' Christmas]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Kal-Penn-John-Cho-making-it-a-very-Harold--Kumar-Christmas-133585973.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">133585973</guid>		
			<pubDate>Wed, 9 Nov 2011 19:53:26 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	







																														                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

A major car explosion, a tango with Ukrainian thugs, a toddler on addictive drugs, Jesus Christ as a womanizer, sexual and racial innuendoes, copious amounts of weed smoking, a nearly lethal encounter with Santa Claus and a musical dance number all spell out the makings of another &ldquo;Harold &amp; Kumar&rdquo; movie.

Translate that into 3D, and you&rsquo;ve got the latest installment, &ldquo;Harold &amp; Kumar 3D Christmas.&rdquo; Written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote the original &ldquo;Harold &amp; Kumar Go to White Castle,&rdquo; the often gingerly, uptight Harold (John Cho) teams up with the pot-loving Kumar (Kal Penn) for a third bout of ridiculousness as the duo embark upon a simple errand that quickly turns into a catastrophe.

When Harold&rsquo;s wife&rsquo;s family comes to visit, he becomes aware of his father-in- law&rsquo;s (Danny Trejo) obsession with having a perfectly ornamented Christmas tree &mdash; growing up in Mexico his family was too poor to purchase one and once to America where he was promised such a luxury, his mother is killed by a group of awkwardly looking Asian gangsters. To appease him, Harold makes it his mission to decorate the prized tree his father-in-law had been growing for nearly nine years while the familia takes off for Mass. But before it can be dressed, Kumar, whose relationship with Harold has become strained over the years due to his frequent fracas, inadvertently burns it down when a foot-long joint hand delivered to Harold on behalf of Santa Clause as an attempt to reunite the pair lands on a branch. As the two head out in search of a replacement &mdash; with a toddler, her Mr. Rogers like father and a curly haired geek in tow &mdash; they encounter a host of characters and obstacles that are sure to make the whirlwind ride unforgettable.

After taking a break in 2008, the idea of crafting a third film was still up in the air. They had just hit a home-run with the first, were touching bases with the second and were unsure how receptive audiences would be to a third, despite having a huge fan base.

Cho went on to star in &ldquo;Star Trek,&rdquo; &ldquo;FlashForward,&rdquo; &ldquo;Saint John of Las Vegas,&rdquo; and &ldquo;30 Rock;&rdquo; while Penn dived into politics, serving as an advocate for Barack Obama&rsquo;s presidential campaign and as a member of Obama&rsquo;s National Arts Policy Committee before taking a position as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in 2009 where he worked as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities until June 2010. He also served as a lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. And somewhere in between he found time to play Dr. Lawrence Kutner in &ldquo;House, M.D,&rdquo; complete work on the historical drama &ldquo;Bhopal: A prayer for Rain,&rdquo; featuring Martin Sheen; and star as Kevin in the new season of &ldquo;How I Met Your Mother.&rdquo;

With so much taking place, one might wonder why now. Well, it&rsquo;s simple.

&ldquo;One reason is contractual,&rdquo; Penn said at a premier screening last week. &ldquo;So, there is a contract where if the studio wants to do three movies they have a certain amount of time where they have to do them by.

&ldquo;The second, which is probably the better reason, is creative,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We love playing these characters. Kumar is way cooler than I will ever be. Let&rsquo;s be honest about that. He is super fun to play; he&rsquo;s so laid-back. Anytime I could get a chance to play him, I would obviously say yes. We would love to do a fourth movie.&rdquo;

What appealed to Penn and Cho more than anything was the evolution of their characters and their audience. When the first film was released more than six years ago, with the second following four years later, their core audience was in their early 20s.

&ldquo;They are getting older,&rdquo; Penn stated. &ldquo;We wanted to play with the fact that you might have bigger responsibilities as you get older, by you don&rsquo;t have to grow up. At heart you are still who you are. We wanted to make a traditional Christmas movie with the Harold &amp; Kumar spin to it.&rdquo;

For Cho, who admitted he had some reservations about taking on the project because there were concerns about the chemistry he and Penn would have after several years, &ldquo;It felt like we were advancing the characters, advancing their ages, having them in different life circumstances, but have them continue to be Harold and Kumar,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was interesting to me to have Harold married and try to start a family, but still have them be stupid. That to me is comedy: More responsibility for idiots.&rdquo;

Luckily, their rhythm was still in tact.

So what should audiences expect: &ldquo;The greatest movie in the history of American cinema,&rdquo; Cho said jokingly. &ldquo;You can expect an epiphany, you can expect your entire world view to change tonight. Are you prepared? Your life will be changed permanently. You may change gods after tonight.&rdquo;  

Caption: Back to the big screen after a years-long break, John Cho (left) and Kal Penn (right) team up for a third installment of &quot;Harold &amp; Kumar.&quot; (Courtesy photo)]]></description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Edward James Olmos: At heart, he is a storyteller]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Edward-James-Olmos--134068948.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">134068948</guid>		
			<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:08:40 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	



	


		

																		



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																																											                                                                        <description><![CDATA[Ask Edward James Olmos who he is, and he will say that he's a storyteller.

An actor, director, activist, yes. But the story of how he became those things starts when he was 5 or 6 years old, back when he fell in love with baseball. He couldn't throw. He couldn't hit. He didn't even really understand what a baseball was. But it was the thing he most wanted to understand.

He took a balled-up sock and tossed it around. It didn't go well.

Eventually, someone gave him a tennis ball. That went worse.

But then, he put the tennis ball in the sock; he tossed it around, and kept at it, now that it couldn't roll away. He threw it against the brick wall of his house in East Los Angeles, and learned how to catch it. 

Eventually, the Japanese-American kids next door taught him how to hit. For a decade, baseball was his neighborhood recreation, his seven-day-per-week passion, his discipline.

'You are everything that you possibly could be, as long as you have that kind of discipline,' the 1964 Montebello High School graduate told CNN during a Red Chair interview.

By then, it was the 1950s. Rock 'n' roll was raging and Olmos was in love again. Olmos wasn't much of a singer, but he had style, he said. 

That, plus discipline that baseball taught him, brought him to theater. Theater brought him to TV, then motion pictures. Now, he directs, writes and acts.

His chances of making it to this place? 'A billion to one,' he said.

'Culturally, the art form really doesn't lend itself to having stories told of different culture,' he said. 'It's just recently, in the last maybe 30 years, that we've started to see a culture dynamic arise through the African-American experience.'

Even fewer mainstream stories stem from Latino culture, he said. To keep going, even when things aren't going well — that is discipline.

'It's really still very, very small, and with every year that goes by, there are more people of that ethnicity, but we have the same amount or less telling the stories of Latin descent,' he said. 'I was very fortunate that I got an opportunity to become a part of this craft.'
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			<title><![CDATA['Unlucky' actor Henry Cavill becomes a super immortal]]></title>
															<link>http://www.wavenewspapers.com/entertainment/movies/Unlucky-actor-Henry-Cavill-becomes-a-super-immortal-133581123.html</link>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">133581123</guid>		
			<pubDate>Wed, 9 Nov 2011 18:51:11 PST</pubDate>
			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>																	



				
	
	
	


		

																		



															<enclosure url="http://media.wavenewspapers.com/images/cavill1.jpg" length="18874" type="image/jpeg" />
																																																						<video>http://cdn.bimfs.com/WAVE/94a30a97ef35097ac057bacfb85ce4cbe16d73c9_fl9.mp4</video>
																		                                                                        <description><![CDATA[

If the reaction of one journalist overheard last week as she prepared to interview the British actor &mdash; &ldquo;that man is fine as hell&rdquo; &mdash; is any indication, then Henry Cavill may have already surmounted bigger obstacles than the gods of Mount Olympus and super villains with Kryptonic powers.

Cavill, 28, gained famed portraying the Duke of Suffolk in the Showtime series &ldquo;The Tudors,&rdquo; and stars in this weekend&rsquo;s 3D action adventure &ldquo;Immortals.&rdquo;

He is also the lead in the forthcoming &ldquo;Superman: Man of Steel,&rdquo; which is due to be released in 2013.

The &ldquo;Immortals&rdquo; takes it cue from the hyper-stylized success of &ldquo;300,&rdquo; whose same producers tapped visionary director Tarsem Singh (&ldquo;The Cell,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Fall&rdquo;), to deliver a mythical story about a humble stone mason named Theseus (Cavill), who vows to avenge the death of his mother and leads a revolt against bloodthirsty tyrant King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous rampage across Greece.

Hyperion&rsquo;s goal is to unleash the power of the sleeping Titans to vanquish the Gods of Olympus and destroy all mankind.

Nice work if you can get it, but Theseus&rsquo; task is made a bit more palatable in the shape of a beautiful soothsayer, the Sibylline Oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and some comic relief from nihilistic slave, Stavros (Stephen Dorff).

Born and raised in Jersey, the small Channel Island between England and France, fortune is smiling on Cavill, who was once dubbed &ldquo;the unluckiest man in Hollywood,&rdquo; after brushes with high profile leading roles.

He was &ldquo;Twilight&rdquo; author Stephenie Meyer&rsquo;s favored choice to play Edward Cullen; but when the film actually went into production, he was deemed to old to play a 17-year-old vampire and the part went to Robert Pattinson.

Then back in 2004, he was reportedly set to star as Superman in director McG&rsquo;s take on the franchise, but that project fell apart and Bryan &ldquo;X-Men&rdquo; Singer tapped Brandon Routh in the hugely disappointing &ldquo;Superman Returns.&rdquo;

Finally, Cavill screen-tested against Daniel Craig for the role of James Bond in &ldquo;Casino Royale,&rdquo; and the more rugged, older Craig got the nod.

But fortune favors the brave, and after bringing him in to read for the part, Singh knew he had his man.

&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a [full shooting] script when we started and so we put stuff out there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know if Theseus was going to be a king&rsquo;s son or a bastard. I said to the studio, we are going to adapt this over the next two or three years so I want someone who is going to be flexible.&rdquo;

Singh added: &ldquo;I sat down with Henry and had him read a scene and he read it perfectly. Then I said, no that&rsquo;s all wrong, read it another way and he did. He did that four times and I went back to the studio and said, I know we don&rsquo;t have a script, but he can act. He&rsquo;s our guy, he&rsquo;s really hungry and disciplined and not faking it.&rdquo;

Cavill also recalled the film&rsquo;s gestation period.

&ldquo;Yes, it changed at different stages, but Tarsem had a clear vision and wanted to protect me from those vagaries,&rdquo; he explained.

&ldquo;He gave me his brief and definition of the things that wouldn&rsquo;t change and I gave him my interpretation of what I was focusing on. Whether he [Theseus] was a peasant&rsquo;s son or a King, he grew up being unaware of these things.&rdquo;

Asked if he favored reading comics or Greek mythology as a kid, Cavill wittily replied that they are one in the same thing.

&ldquo;I think for a man or woman playing these roles are attractive because you get the opportunity to be a hero, like when you were a kid swinging a sword, playing as a Knight or you&rsquo;re a cowboy or soldier,&rdquo; Cavill said.

&ldquo;You want to save the world and do goodness and right and be relied upon. It&rsquo;s all of those things.&rdquo;

Of course, Cavill noted that the physical effort for both &ldquo;Immortals&rdquo; and &ldquo;Superman&rdquo; has tested his metal; he sports a lean, swimmer&rsquo;s physique for the former and a beefed up muscular frame for the Man of Steel.

&ldquo;Yeah, the regime for Immortals, hours of cardio to become lean, was different from then going into Superman,&rdquo; he recalled.

&ldquo;I mean everyone knows the image of Superman, so I knew what I had to do and completely changed my body shape for it. But I took it as an opportunity to get in great shape. The pain only lasts a short while, but the benefits forever.&rdquo;

Photo: Brit actor Henry Cavill, who dons Superman's cape in 2013, can be seen as a Greek warrior in &quot;Immortals&quot; this weekend. Credit: Relativity Media

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