“Freak’ vampire spoof has a light bite - sign on sandiego.com” plus 4 more

Freak’ vampire spoof has a light bite - sign on sandiego.com
Jackson doctor says he can't pay child support, other debts - Las Vegas Review Journal
Preview of Michael Jackson movie shows him in fine voice - Daily Citizen-News
Movie review + trailer: 'Astro Boy' - The State
'To Kill a Mockingbird' actress dies in NC - Baltimore Sun

Freak’ vampire spoof has a light bite - sign on sandiego.com

Posted: 24 Oct 2009 02:18 AM PDT

Movie Review

2:00 a.m. October 24, 2009

"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant"

Rating: PG-13

When: Opened yesterday

Running time: 1 hr., 47 min.

"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is sort of a "Twilight"-lite. It's about vampires and it's about teenagers. But where "Twilight" vamps down Romance Novel Road, "Freak," based on Darren Shan's novels, is a lark, and in this case the laughs are intentional.

The movie's big drawback is that it isn't silly enough. Chris Massoglia is Darren, a good kid with good parents but a boy under the influence of the classmate his parents call "that damned Steve" (Josh Hutcherson). Steve's a class-cutting, vandalizing punk who leads Darren away from "the path to a happy, productive life," or so the parents warn.

Darren should have listened, because when a strange Euro-limo passes through town dropping fliers for "The world's greatest freak show," Steve insists they go. And mixed up with the bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and Alexander Ribs (Orlando Jones), there's a real live vampire. Steve recognizes Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) from his vampire books and is anxious to escape his miserable life by joining the undead. But the guy whose "destiny" it is to join the vampires in their war with the murderous Vampanese is Darren.

Director Paul Weitz ("In Good Company") and writer Brian Helgeland ("Mystic River") go for something like a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" goof on teens dealing with issues of eternal life/eternal damnation. The dialogue lacks the wit of the visuals — chasing a vampire's trained spider through school is a highlight.

Reilly is well cast as a playful, seen-it-all blood-sucker who explains what awaits Darren if the kid chooses to earn his fangs — "It's a lonely life, but there's lots of it."

A plumped-up Michael Cerveris from TV's "Fringe" makes a dandy, fey villain, the one playing vampires against one another. The kids aren't bad, with freak show member Rebecca (Jessica Carlson) providing the coy teen love interest.

But despite some amusing scenes and "rules" for this vampire world, the script never sinks its teeth into the "Cirque" freaks and never once works up a decent fright. This "Assistant" could use more on-the-job training.

Union-Tribune

In the Union-Tribune on Page E5

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Jackson doctor says he can't pay child support, other debts - Las Vegas Review Journal

Posted: 24 Oct 2009 02:04 AM PDT

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Preview of Michael Jackson movie shows him in fine voice - Daily Citizen-News

Posted: 23 Oct 2009 08:32 AM PDT

Published: October 23, 2009 11:41 am

Preview of Michael Jackson movie shows him in fine voice

By MESFIN FEKADU

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A 12-minute clip of the new Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" shows a strong-voiced King of Pop enthusiastically practicing some of his biggest hits.

Jackson is shown warming up his vocals during a performance of "Human Nature." That's followed by Jackson running through the song in various outfits.

Later, he playfully dances with a woman as he sings "The Way You Make Me Feel," touching her thigh and holding her waist.

Jackson died June 25 at 50. He was preparing for his comeback concerts in London at the time. "This Is It" — based on rehearsals for those concerts — will premiere globally on Tuesday and run for two weeks.

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On the Net:

http://www.thisisit-movie.com/

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Movie review + trailer: 'Astro Boy' - The State

Posted: 24 Oct 2009 12:31 AM PDT

The jokes aren't all that funny and the father-son relationship between Astro Boy (Highmore) and brilliant scientist Dr. Tenma (a typically lethargic and curiously cast Nicolas Cage) isn't all that moving. There's a lot going on, but none of it ever really grabs you. (Along those same innocuous lines, the movie is sufficiently bright and colorful for kids of all ages without ever being too scary.)

Based on the Japanese comic book from Osamu Tezuka that began in 1951 - and influenced the anime genre as we know it today - "Astro Boy" traces the origin of a young superhero. He began life as a regular kid named Toby. After Toby dies in a freak lab accident, his father brings him back to life as a robot containing Toby's personality, memories and Bob's Big Boy looks (as well as some tricky gadgets and powers that are never explained).

Once Dr. Tenma realizes - duh - that this eager-to-please robot version of his child is nonetheless inferior and sends him away, Toby flees the floating, gleaming Metro City and lands on the now-trashed Earth below, where he becomes known as Astro Boy. There, he meets other orphaned children who grubbily root around for spare robot parts to bring back to their Fagin-like father figure, Hamegg (Lane). (The trash can that follows them around and looks like a pug is pretty darn cute, though.)

Astro wants to fit in with the others, namely the street-smart Cora (Bell), and forge some sort of normal life. But high among the clouds in Metro City, President Stone (Donald Sutherland) is after him for his Blue Core: a powerful crystalline nugget that Dr. Tenma implanted in his chest. You see, there's a Blue Core and a Red Core. The blue one provides a peaceful, benevolent strength, while the red one turns you into a ferocious killing machine.

The Dick Cheney-like president wants to control them both for his ironically named "Peacekeeper," a burly device intended to dominate Earth: "I've got an election to win, and I need my robot to be a fighter, not a lover," he says early on.

Yeah, it's not a terribly subtle political metaphor.

And so the obvious inevitably arrives: Astro Boy must return to his home to fight the ultimate fight and face his ultimate destiny. He also might run into his dad again. You never know.

REVIEW

Two stars

WITH VOICES OF: Nicolas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy and Nathan Lane

RATED: PG for some action and peril, and brief mild language

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 30 minutes

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'To Kill a Mockingbird' actress dies in NC - Baltimore Sun

Posted: 23 Oct 2009 10:22 PM PDT

HIGHLANDS, N.C. - Actress Collin Wilcox-Paxton, who portrayed the false accuser in the movie classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," died of brain cancer just months after the diagnosis. She was 74.

Her husband, Scott Paxton, confirmed Thursday that she died Oct. 14 in Highlands in the southwest part of the state. No funeral was held. Instead, the family held a service before her death.

"It's pretty special being at your own memorial," said her husband of more than 30 years.

She was diagnosed Aug. 11 with three brain tumors, he said.

The actress played Mayella Ewell in the movie based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer-winning novel. Her role as the young white woman who accuses a black man of beating and raping her in her home was brief but memorable.

She angrily breaks down as actor Gregory Peck, the defense attorney, suggests she lied to avoid being abused by her racist father. The black defendant is convicted anyway and later killed.

In the late 1950s and '60s, she had roles in several Broadway plays, making her debut in 1958 in the family drama "The Day the Money Stopped." While the production was short-lived, The New York Times said she "scatters little sparks of humorous vitality throughout her scenes."

She had guest appearances in many early television series, such as "Gunsmoke," ''The Fugitive," ''The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie."

Her roles in the 1990s included television series and movies that were filmed near her hometown in the North Carolina mountains. They included "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," which director Clint Eastwood filmed in Savannah, Ga., and the inspirational TV series "Christy," about a teacher in the early 1900s in remote Appalachia.

She is also survived by her three children and three grandchildren.

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