“Paris Hilton not responsible for National Lampoon's Pledge This ... - News.com.au” plus 4 more

---

• Paris Hilton not responsible for National Lampoon's Pledge This ... - News.com.au
• Inglourious Basterds: Revisionist romp - Toronto Star
• Man faces charge of stalking Miley Cyrus - Abilene Reporter-News
• Movie Review: 'Inglourious Basterds' - Delaware County Daily Times
• Movie Review: 'Passing Strange' - Delaware County Daily Times

Paris Hilton not responsible for National Lampoon's Pledge This ... - News.com.au Posted: 19 Aug 2009 09:45 PM PDT PARIS Hilton's surprising lack of self-promotion was not the reason her recent movie bombed, a court has ruled. However, the heir-head will have to return her fee. The socialite was sued by Worldwide Entertainment Group for allegedly breaching her contractual commitments for movie National Lampoon's Pledge This!, but a Miami judge has ruled she did her best to promote it, stating the movie was "hardly destined for critical acclaim". District Judge Federico Moreno said: "Any causal connection between Ms. Hilton's alleged breaches and the financial ruin of the film are wholly speculative. "The movie flopped because the film's inexperienced producers hastily cobbled together a wholly inadequate marketing plan. They sent scattershot requests to their principal star in the hope she could find time to promote a sinking ship." While Hilton won't have to pay the $8.3 million damages the producers were asking for, she may have to return the $1 million fee she was given for the film. A receiver representing the producers has been given until August 26 to submit arguments as to why the blonde star should pay back the sum. Michael Weinsten, Hilton's lawyer, said in a statement following the ruling: "We are grateful for the judge's time and thoughtful consideration of the issues in this case." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Inglourious Basterds: Revisionist romp - Toronto Star Posted: 20 Aug 2009 01:27 AM PDT Movie Trailer: Inglourious Basterds Director Quentin Tarantino is back with his drama about a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" who are chosen to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by brutally killing Nazis. Brad Pitt stars as their leader.   Peter Howell Movie Critic Inglourious Basterds (out of 4) Starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger and Michael Fassbender. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. At major theatres. 14A Grammatically challenged, factually unhinged and too long for its own good, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds nevertheless soars thanks to one glorious performance – and it's not the one you think. Top-billed Brad Pitt is merely amusing as Tennessee moonshiner Lt. Aldo "The Apache" Raine, who leads scalp-hunting Jewish-American soldiers against Hitler in the Nazi-occupied France of World War II. But he's almost a Sgt. Rock parody and he's MIA for vast stretches. (Martin Wuttke's sputtering Hitler, meanwhile, is close to a Mel Brooks homage.) The film's real star is Germany's Christoph Waltz, a multilingual wizard who inhabits the role of Col. Hans Landa, the smirking Gestapo officer known as "The Jew Hunter" for his uncanny sleuthing. Already feted with an acting award at Cannes, Waltz is going to ride this movie all the way to an Oscar nomination. Count on it, and give thanks for his complicated presence. Because if Inglourious Basterds really was simply about the collecting of hundreds of Nazi scalps, as the trailer insists it is, the gore would be unendurable – something akin to the torture porn that co-star Eli Roth makes in his other career as a horror director. Thankfully, the blade-twirling and bat-wielding soldiers that Raine commands forget their accounting, if not their mission. To be sure, the film – opening tonight in midnight screenings – does provide a righteous rush to anyone tired of seeing Jews as docile victims, which was Tarantino's stated intent. Heads are sliced and skulls are smashed – the latter being the specialty of Roth's character, wild-eyed baseball nut Sgt. Donny Donowitz. But the film is less violent than the bloodthirsty ads suggest, and also less so than Tarantino's Kill Bill saga. These Basterds blend into a much richer story, a hugely entertaining one with stars you don't immediately see shining. Inglourious Basterds is pure wish-fulfilment fantasy ("Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France...") in which Hitler and his stooges stand to get what's coming to them, in a way that makes cinema itself seem like the grand liberator. The film's strength paradoxically lies not in its transgressions but in its many digressions, and it took me a second viewing to really appreciate this. Tarantino quickly tires of the main plot of his films. His better movies (Pulp Fiction is still the gold standard) find humour and drama in subplots and sideshows that fully animate the frame like a Mad magazine comic. Or maybe like the Sergio Leone spaghetti western that Tarantino tips to in the film's bucolic prologue, set in 1941. It's here we first meet Landa, as he is interrogating a French dairy farmer, seeking the whereabouts of a missing Jewish family. Landa makes the act of drinking milk seem evil, as he pursues his hunch to a violent conclusion and a foreboding "au revoir." Let's skip the Basterds – you already know about them – and jump three years to the Paris of 1944, where comely movie theatre owner Emmanuelle (France's Mélanie Laurent, another casting coup) is changing the marquee of her art deco bijou. She's good at changing names. Her theatre, which has already attracted the unwelcome attention of a love-struck German warrior (Daniel Brühl), will be the nexus of an Allied bomb plot called "Operation Kino." In due course we will meet Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), a German movie star working as a double agent; Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), a former film critic turned British soldier whose fluency in German and cinema lingo make him an ideal conscript; and General Ed Fenech (Mike Myers), a British military strategist who is the "Basil Exposition" of Inglourious Basterds, giving us plot necessities by way of briefing Hicox (while Rod Taylor glowers nearby as Winston Churchill). All these people, and many more besides, make for a very crowded screen. The film might have been stronger had Tarantino simply dropped the British characters (more Basterds and fewer Brits!), but perhaps not as satisfying – Fassbender and Myers are both a joy to watch. More deserving of trims is a tavern scene that brings the Brits, the Yanks and the Nazis together on the eve of Operation Kino, where Tarantino's weakness for verbosity is given free rein. He has actually lengthened the tavern interlude since its Cannes premiere (and perversely increased the film's running time to 2:32, a minute longer) but his instincts prove sound. He has restored a set-up scene starring Pitt that gives the tavern section more flow and better drama. Much better, though, is an earlier restaurant scene starring Landa, Emmanuelle and a smug Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), as they discuss plans to show the Nazi propaganda film Nation's Pride at Emmanuelle's theatre. Landa insists that reluctant Emmanuelle share a strudel with him, demonstrating both gluttony and treachery as he closely watches her. Does he remember an earlier encounter? Such suspenseful moments help make Inglourious Basterds the revisionist romp it is, even if you can't help but wish that Aldo and his boys could have swung their blades in the editing suite. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Man faces charge of stalking Miley Cyrus - Abilene Reporter-News Posted: 18 Aug 2009 06:51 AM PDT Mark McLeod, 53, of Appling, Ga., faces charges of stalking of actress Miley Cyrus. (AP Photo/Chatham County Sheriff's Dept.) TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. — A 53-year-old Georgia man who told police he was secretly engaged to Miley Cyrus was scheduled to appear in court today on charges of attempting to stalk the "Hannah Montana" star while she was making a movie on the Georgia coast. Police said Mark McLeod twice came to Tybee Island looking for 16-year-old Cyrus and tried to breach a security perimeter around the movie set in June. Police said McLeod told an officer he was engaged to marry Cyrus and that she sent him secret messages through her TV show. McLeod, from Appling, Ga., was scheduled for a preliminary hearing today on misdemeanor charges of attempted stalking, disorderly conduct and obstruction of a police officer. He has been jailed in Chatham County, where Tybee Island is located, and asked a judge after his arrest to appoint him a lawyer. Cyrus finished filming the movie "The Last Song" on Tybee Island and in nearby Savannah last week. McLeod was arrested Aug. 6 after security guards for Walt Disney Pictures reported he had returned to the filming location on Tybee Island asking where he could find Cyrus. McLeod had been warned to stay away from the island, 12 miles east of Savannah, after he was charged June 22 with disorderly conduct and obstruction of a police officer for trying to cross a security perimeter at the movie set. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Movie Review: 'Inglourious Basterds' - Delaware County Daily Times Posted: 20 Aug 2009 02:52 AM PDT By Christy Lemire, Associated Press Click to enlarge In this film publicity image released by The Weinstein Co., Brad Pitt is shown in a scene from, "Inglourious Basterds." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Co., Francois Duhamel) ** NO SALES ** LOS ANGELES — If only Quentin Tarantino the director weren't so completely in love with Quentin Tarantino the writer, "Inglourious Basterds" might have been a great movie rather than just a good movie with moments of greatness. Everything that's thrilling and maddening about his films co-exists and co-mingles here: the visual dexterity and the interminable dialogue, the homage to cinema and the self-glorifying drive to redefine it, the compelling bursts of energy and the numbingly draggy sections. And then there is the violence, of course: violence as a source of humor, as sport, violence merely because it looks cool on camera, and because the 46-year-old Tarantino still has the sensibilities of a 12-year-old boy. "Inglourious Basterds" also reflects the discipline, or lack thereof, of an adolescent — one who's never been told "no." Certain scenes of his wildly revisionist World War II saga have a wonderfully palpable tension, but then he undermines them by allowing them to go on too long. You expect talkiness in a Tarantino film, but rather than whisking you away in waves of poetry, as he did with the Oscar-winning "Pulp Fiction" screenplay he co-wrote, too often here his talk lacks snap. As for the plot ... well, it might be in there somewhere among the many meandering threads. In one of them, "Inglourious Basterds" follows a band of Jewish American soldiers, led by twangy Tennessean Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), who hunt Nazis with the goal of not just killing them but scalping them and sometimes carving swastikas into their foreheads. Pitt is a hoot, by the way, in the tradition of his best comic supporting work in films like "Snatch" and "Burn After Reading." He's pretty much doing a bad impression of George W. Bush — campy but irresistible — and it is always such a joy to watch him let go and goof off. Among his "Dirty Dozen"-style crew are "Hostel" director Eli Roth as a Boston native who likes to take a baseball bat to the enemy's skull as if he were Ted Williams facing a fastball. But Pitt isn't the star, despite being the biggest name and marketing focal point. "Inglourious Basterds" also intertwines the stories of Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent in a subtle and intense performance), a young Jewish woman who fled to Paris and opened a movie theater after Nazis killed her family; Hans Landa (a commanding Christoph Waltz), the cool but cruelly conniving Nazi colonel who orchestrated that attack; German movie star Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger, oozing old-school glamour), who's an undercover agent for the Brits; and Nazi war hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), who's about to become a star by playing himself in a propaganda flick about his exploits. All these characters converge one night at Shosanna's theater, where their various ambitions and murder plots collide. The climax is a seriously over-the-top explosion — even for a Tarantino movie — of flames, gunfire and screaming, teeming masses. After respectfully ripping off other directors his whole life, perhaps this is intended as a parody of himself, but even he doesn't seem to know how to handle it. While the path to that moment can be torturous, it can also be a visual wonder. "Inglourious Basterds" may be Tarantino's most artfully photographed film next to his "Kill Bill" movies (Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson shot them all), with spaghetti Western touches at the beginning eventually giving way to dramatic noir imagery by the end. But for every inspiring moment or performance — Waltz especially stands out, in four different languages, no less — Tarantino frustrates in equal measure. "Inglourious Basterds," a Weinstein Co. and Universal Pictures release, is rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality. Running time: 152 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Movie Review: 'Passing Strange' - Delaware County Daily Times Posted: 20 Aug 2009 02:52 AM PDT By Christy Lemire, Associated Press LOS ANGELES — It's easy to see why Spike Lee was drawn to Stew, the one-named musician and mastermind behind the Broadway production "Passing Strange." Like Lee, the artist formerly known as Mark Stewart possesses a powerful and singular voice, one he uses to express vividly his own unique experience of growing up as a black man in America. And Lee has always shown a strong affinity with music in his films, as evidenced by his longtime collaboration with composer and jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. In bringing Stew's show to the screen as "Passing Strange The Movie," Lee took the wise and uncharacteristic step of staying out of the way — of letting the songs and the story play out without inserting his own trademark aesthetics into them. ("Passing Strange" won the Tony last year for best book of a musical and earned six other nominations. The movie version will play theatrically in New York starting Friday, then will be available nationwide through video-on-demand starting Aug. 26.) Lee shot two performances at New York's Belasco Theatre before the show's close — including the emotional finale — then shot it again without an audience to capture close-ups, include dolly shots. The result is so crisp and intimate, it makes you feel as if you're right on the minimalist stage with Stew (who also narrates), the rest of his formidable cast and the band. Similar to Jonathan Demme's concert film "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," the cameras stay focused almost entirely on the performers, except for a few times you see the packed and rousing house in the background. Matthew Libatique, the cinematographer behind several of Lee's recent films including "Inside Man," lets you see every facial expression and bead of sweat — and even a few tears. The film is also edited (by another frequent Lee collaborator, Barry Brown) with a natural energy and fluidity, which enhances the vibrancy of the material. The semi-autobiographical "Passing Strange" tells the story of a black Los Angeles teenager, known as Youth (Daniel Breaker), who struggles to find his artistic identity in the 1970s. Among the forces that shape him are his churchgoing mother (Eisa Davis) and the bohemian misfits he meets in Amsterdam and Berlin (De'Adre Aziza, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones in multiple roles). The coming-of age tale may sound familiar and the self-serious debates about creativity can grow repetitive. But the powerful and catchy rock, blues and gospel songs (co-written by singer and bassist Heidi Rodewald), along with Stew's humorously pointed observations about race, make "Passing Strange" compelling and often moving. Besides trying to figure out who he is, Youth also has a complicated relationship with his blackness. He was raised middle class, safely surrounded by love, but when he travels to Europe and immerses himself in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, he starts to think he doesn't have enough of a tortured past from which to create true art, so he affects a ghetto persona. "I am bleeding sunshine," he half sings, half recites. "I am emptying my veins." As Stew points out, no one on this stage knows what it's like to hustle on the mean streets of South Central — one of many times he talks directly to his characters or to the audience. His words — both spoken and sung, on stage and on screen — ring out loud and clear. "Passing Strange The Movie," a Sundance Selects release, is not rated but contains language, drug use and sexual content. Running time: 135 minutes. Three stars out of four. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610