The former ' Dancing with the Stars' contestant confirms she's re-engaged to the Chicago Bears quarterback shortly after a photo of her wearing her 5.2 carat engagement ring surfaced.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler Get Engaged for the Second Time
The Carpetbagger: In Film, So Many Men on the Verge of a Crisis
In many recent films — including "The Tree of Life," "Beginners" and "Midnight in Paris" — men are seen facing some type of existential crisis.
Jeremy Renner Weighs In on Possible Solo Movie for Hawkeye
While sharing about his character development in 'The Avengers', Renner says that there are a lot of variables to be considered before making a solo film for Hawkeye.
Celebrity Birthdays - November 30, 2011
Happy Birthday to: The Big Bang Theory actress Kaley Cuoco (1985) The Girl Next Door star Elisha Cuthbert (1982) American Idol Clay Aiken (1978) Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal (1978) Trouble...
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Movie Review | 'The Story of Lover's Rock': 'The Story of Lover's Rock,' Directed by Menelik Shabazz - Review
"The Story of Lover's Rock" is a documentary about a genre of British reggae meant for dancing in the dark.
'Scarface' Gets Modern Reimagining From 'Training Day' Writer
Since its release in 1983, Brian De Palma's Scarface has evolved into much more than a movie. It has become a way of life. A mantra for the young who to aspire to any kind of American dream. A common, pop culture lightning rod for conversations about sex, violence and machismo. What many of the film's fans don't realize, though, is De Palma's film is actually a remake of a 1932 film co-directed by Howard Hawkes. Both films follow a motivated immigrant on his way up in the world of drugs and organized crime and that through line is going to be the basis of yet another Scarface set in modern day. Originally announced in September, this new Scarface just gained a writer, David Ayer. He not only wrote Training Day but also directed Street Kings and Harsh Times. Read about his take on the material and more after the break.
Deadline broke the news of Ayer's hire and even spoke to him about the project:
This is a fantasy for me, I can still remember when I saw the film at 13 and it blew my mind. I sought it out; I went after it hard. I see it as the story of the American dream, with a character whose moral compass points in a different direction. That puts it right in my wheelhouse. I studied both the original Ben Hecht-Howard Hawks movie and the DePalma-Pacino version and found some universal themes. I'm still under the hood figuring out the wiring that will translate, but both films had a specificity of place, there was unapologetic violence, and a main character who socially scared the shit out of people, but who had his own moral code. Each was faithful to the underworld of its time. There are enough opportunities in the real world today that provide an opportunity to do this right. If it was just an attempt to remake the 1983 film, that would never work.
The fact that it's not a straight remake of De Palma's film is certainly good news. Plus the story of an immigrant working his way up in the United States is a pretty universal one. Combine those two things, slap the Scarface name on it and it'll be hard for this film not to garner an audience. What will be most interesting is if Ayer's screenplay attracts a massive director or someone with a little more to prove.
Do you think there's room for a new Scarface? What do you think of Ayer's movies?
- Say Hello to Another Little Friend: Universal Preps New 'Scarface'
- 'Scarface' Outtakes: "Say Hello To My Little Friend"
- Say Hello To 'Scarface' In Theaters One Night Only
- $999.99 'Scarface' Limited Edition Blu-Ray to Drop September 6
- Casting Bits: Jake Gyllenhaal in David Ayer's 'End of Watch;' Olivia Thirlby in 'Suck City;' Mira Sorvino in 'Trade of Innocents'
- 'Jurassic Park' Will Be Released on Blu-Ray This Year
Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland Quietly Marries Longtime Boyfriend in Tennessee
Wearing an Alexander McQueen gown, Jennifer exchanges wedding vows with former model Justin Miller in an intimate sunset ceremony at a chapel in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Carpetbagger Blog: What's in Store at the Gothams
A preview of tonight's Gotham Independent Film Awards
Casting Bits: John Lithgow in 'Dog Fight;' Rachel Weisz in 'The Railway Man;' Luke Wilson and Kevin Connolly in 'Elvis & Nixon'
Dog Fight is going to be one of the more visible political satires to hit just before the 2012 Presidential election; the movie will be from director Jay Roach, featuring Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell as North Carolina politicians who are running opposite one another for a congressional seat in a district election.
Brian Cox recently joined the cast, which also includes Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Baker and Katherine LaNasa. Now John Lightgow has signed on to play an unspecified role. The film is shooting in New Orleans, and already has an August 10, 2012 release date. [Variety]
After the break, Rachel Weisz joins Colin Firth in a real-life drama about POWs forced to build a railroad, and there are new actors for Elvis & Nixon and A White Trash Christmas.
Colin Firth has already been set to star in The Railway Man, a film that Jonathan Teplitzky will direct based on Eric Lomax's autobiography that tells of "his capture and torture by the Japanese in World War II, when he was sent to work on Burma's notorious "death railway," and his struggle for the next 30 years to come to terms with the trauma."
Colin Firth will play the elder Lomax, and now Rachel Weisz is set to play his wife Patti, who helped Lomax seek a sort of reconciliation with his captors. Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) will play the younger version of Lomax in scenes set in WWII. [Variety]
Not too long ago we passed on the announcement of Elvis & Nixon, the film about the real-life meeting between the title personalities that will star Eric Bana as the hip-shaking king (in his later years) and Danny Huston as Nixon, under the direction of Cary Elwes. Now Luke Wilson is in talks to play Sonny, one of the 'Memphis mafia' that forms the Elvis entourage, while Kevin Connolly has signed to play a limo drive named Ronnie.
This will be Elwes' first feature as a director; he also co-wrote with Joey Sagal and Hanala Sagal. It sounds like the sort of film that results from years of carrying around one idea about what would make a good movie — a passion project, I guess, about a very strange moment in time. But maybe the writing trio has some insight beyond the obvious into why the clash of cultures between Elvis, Nixon and their respective crews was a specifically interesting moment in time. [THR]
Finally, Douglas Owens has been added to the cast of A White Trash Christmas, which is about "the tribulations of of a trashy, whiskey-soaked, unemployed hairdresser and mother who is visited by three ghosts who try to show her a path to a brighter future." Ron Carlson is directing and co-wrote with Terri Kaufman.
Taryn Manning plays the mother, and Owens will be a guy who genuinely likes her, but whom she uses as "a meal ticket." [Deadline]
- Casting Bits: Emma Stone in 'He's F*ckin' Perfect', Michelle Monaghan in 'Fast Flash to Bang Time', Brian Cox in 'Dog Fight', Alice Eve in 'Decoding Annie Parker'
- Plot Details Emerge For Terrence Malick's Movie With Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams & Javier Bardem
- Casting Bits: Casey Affleck in Whitey Bulger Biopic, Dylan McDermott in 'Dog Fight', Gabriel Byrne, Rufus Sewell, and Toby Stephens in 'All Things to All Men'
- Casting Bits: Jason Sudeikis in 'Dog Fight', John Cusack in 'Numbers Station', Michelle Monaghan in 'Fort Bliss', Lily Collins in 'English Teacher'
- Casting Bits: John Cusack and Johnny Knoxville in 'Carnaval', Katherine LaNasa in 'Dog Fight' and 'The Frozen Ground', Vanessa Redgrave, Melanie Laurent in 'Night Train to Lisbon'
- 'The Deep Blue Sea' Trailer – Rachel Weisz Self-Destructs with Tom Hiddleston
ArtsBeat: Carpetbagger Returns
It's time once again for the Carpetbagger to hit some red carpets in pursuit of the latest news about stars, filmmakers, hangers-on and their enduring, ever-shimmering quest for Oscar glory.
Geddy Lee Lends His Name To Wine Scholarship
Rush star Geddy Lee has had a wine scholarship created in his honor. The singer/bassist is a longtime board member for charitable foundation Grapes For Humanity, which supports learning at colleg...
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Charlize Theron: I Got Bullied at School for Being a Nerd
Recalling her high school years, the 'Young Adult' actress confesses to wearing 'really nerdy glasses because I was blind as could be' and reveals she did 'crazy things' to be part of the in-crowd.
will.i.am Previews 'T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)' Music Video
From running on foot, the Black Eyed Peas star is going faster by riding a bike and then racing on a motorcycle.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
'Hugo' - What Did You Think?
If I had to imagine the results of a quick exit poll, I really don't know how I'd expect responses to Martin Scorsese's latest movie, Hugo, to fall. The director's first 'family' film is an adaptation of Brian Selznick's book The Invention of Hugo Cabret and, on the surface at least, tells the story of a young boy's attempt to live in the roof of a train station in '30s Paris. The boy, Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is trying to repair a curious automaton that is the last relic of his father, and in so doing discovers tales of the earliest days of cinema.
Hugo has a very impressive use of 3D that makes perhaps the best argument yet for the format, and expresses such a love for early cinema that some scenes within may be the most irresistible stuff to parade in front of the eyes of film nerds this season. But it isn't uniformly as magnificent as some of the best scenes, and it isn't the sort of family film that audiences are expecting to see. So let us know: what did you think about Hugo?
There is amazing, wonderful stuff in the film, primarily an adroit and restrained use of 3D that avoids almost all the obvious tricks in favor of adding depth rather than flash, and the sections devoted to the early days of cinema, some of which apply 3D to those early days in a manner that could be called revelatory.
At the same time, the acting isn't uniformly good (I think this is Chloe Moretz's first bad performance) and I can see the argument that the film needs a good twenty-minute trim spread across all three acts. A more conservative running time would certainly make Hugo more palatable to a bigger audience, I think.
I liked the film quite a lot, and though I have some reservations with it, my appreciation for the things it does well was enough to overwhelm my complaints. But I do wonder how the film will play a second time, especially if seen without the benefit of 3D. So, despite it being late in the weekend (Thanksgiving got in the way) let's talk about Hugo. Spoilers fully allowed in the comments below.
- Martin Scorcese's 'Hugo' Pays Joyful Homage to Old-School Filmmaking with New-School Technology [NYFF Sneak Preview Reaction]
- Martin Scorsese Introduces 'Hugo' in Featurette; Film Premieres Tonight at New York Film Fest
- 'Hugo' Trailer: Martin Scorsese's Lively, Pretty Family Fantasy
- Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' Teaser Poster
- Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo Cabret' is Now Just 'Hugo'
- 'Hugo' Review: Martin Scorsese's Most Exultant Expression of His Love For Film
'Hugo' Review: Martin Scorsese's Most Exultant Expression of His Love For Film
One of cinema's great powers is the ability to transport. Martin Scorsese has typically been concerned with bringing us to places that are recognizably real, such as the streets of New York, whether in an era modern (Mean Streets, Goodfellas) or bygone (The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York). Hugo seems like new ground at first, as it is set in a vision of '30s Paris that is exaggerated to almost a movie-musical degree. This Paris is populated by what initially seem to be character types that circle around one another in such a way that I wouldn't have been surprised to see them break into dance numbers.
Hugo is Scorsese's first family film, and is based on an illustrated kids' book, Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. That explains the setting and the characters, if not Scorsese's interest in the story. But Hugo is something unusual for a family film: a story with a built-in opportunity to delve into the history of cinema itself, and to make an argument for the preservation of movies as not only the shared memories of an audience, but the collective soul of those who love them.
And so Hugo transports not only us, but Scorsese himself, back to the early days of filmmaking, when magic was made with cheap paint and wood and simple tricks. There is no small irony in the fact that this trip is taken through Scorsese's most technologically advanced film. Scorsese exuberantly directs the recreation of a Paris that sort of was through gorgeous CGI and some of the best 3D I've ever seen. Hugo is a movie born out of love and possessed of genuine soul, and the joy within is just as palpable and infectious as in the early movies Scorsese celebrates.
This is ostensibly the story of the young orphan after whom the movie is named, played with a very adult sense of purpose by Asa Butterfield. Hugo's father (Jude Law) was a watchmaker, and father and son had been determined to repair an unusual automaton found in a museum. After the passing of his father Hugo lives in the train station where his dissolute uncle (Ray Winstone) keeps the clocks running on time, and with the help of a book-smart girl (Chloe Moretz) the boy attempts to repair the automaton on his own by pilfering parts from a toymaker (Ben Kingsley, adroitly toeing the line between caricature and depth of character) while evading a particularly dedicated station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen).
That automaton turns out to be a relic of the past in more ways than one. It is designed to write a message, though the nature of the message can't be seen until the metal man is fully repaired. I'm not trying to suggest that Hugo, the film, is old-fashioned or needs any repairing when I say that it is a lot like that automaton. Using John Logan's screenplay, Scorsese has created a film that is a complex marvel meant to deliver a simple message: film is beautiful and worth saving.
The message is delivered with hypnotizing showmanship. Collaborating with cinematographer Robert Richardson, Scorsese applies some of his favorite tricks and techniques. The opening, for example, is one long stitched-together 'shot' that recalls the famous nightclub walkthrough in Goodfellas. But they augment those techniques with a use of 3D that is calm, clever and focused on depth rather than protuberance. I can't imagine Hugo having quite the same power to transport without 3D.
As dazzling as the 3D may be, and as effective as the young Hugo's actions are, the heart of the movie really beats in a handful of sequences in which Scorsese recreates the film studio run by fantastic film pioneer Georges Méliès, director of pioneering sci-fi movie A Trip to the Moon. The historian and the filmmaker inside Scorsese get to join forces to create a moving primer on early film history and preservation. Scorsese makes an argument for the validity of 3D through not only his own original footage, but the conversion of some WWI newsreel clips to the format.
In truth, not every moment of Hugo is a bountifully magnificent as those scenes with Méliès. The movie's mid-section dallies a bit with character development that seems out of place in the moment, but which does pay off when Scorsese's thematic intent becomes fully clear. The relationships between side characters and some lingering on the everyday details of this Paris help develop the movie's big themes about mending broken souls, but I'
Ellen Barkin Gave Son 'Cursing Hour'
Foul-mouthed actress Ellen Barkin allowed her young son to cuss to his heart's delight for an hour a day so he would avoid swearing at school. The Ocean's Thirteen star, who is known for her love ...
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This Week In Trailers: Declaration of War, Khodorkovsky, The Greater Good, The First Movie, Dreams of a Life, New Kids Nitro
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I'm operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Dreams of a Life Trailer
File this under the Unexpected pile.
It's not that you ever think you'll come across something so fundamentally different but when you're scouring the web for trailers you sometimes come across an item that defies classification. Now, a documentary about a missing person is something that isn't so novel but when you consider that filmmaker Carol Morely did what amounts to some forensic storytelling this is pretty fascinating. Fascinating as well as riveting when this trailer starts to unwind.
Never mind the details that this is going to tell the story of a woman who died in her apartment and, for three years, was left there to rot as the Christmas presents she was wrapping were still around her and as the television stayed on the same channel for 36 more months without interruption. Creepy as that is, the trailer takes a decidedly less macabre approach. Opting for a more CSI approach, or that other show on CBS where the cop sees dead people from various decades set to a pop classic from a specific era, using the reporter who wrote the initial story was a nice way to begin.
The approach pays off because it establishes that what we're talking about is real even though the reenactment is not. The emphasis on the details of what actually happened takes away from the unbelievability that a young woman could have died without so much as a phone call from a family member. We get to hear the stories of people around her and what they thought of the woman who would ultimately become a skeleton in her own house. It's an ipso facto project that you could not imagine making but the trailer does well in balancing the more skeevy details about what happened to her by giving us first hand accounts from people who knew her. It's sweet, in a way, to get this kind of perspective on a life but it's downright sad when you consider the interstitial that poses the question about what would happen if you died today and how long it would be until someone noticed.
It's a trailer that
Video: Demi Lovato Pulled Out a Piece of Hair on Stage
Performing for her Kansas City, MO fans, Lovato was caught in an embarrassing situation when one of her extensions was accidentally ripped out.
Brad Pitt Nearly Came Face to Face With Jennifer Aniston and Her Lover
Pitt, Angelina Jolie and some of their kids went for a movie in Hollywood theater just a showing before Aniston and Justin Theroux.
Celebrity Birthdays - November 27, 2011
Happy Birthday to: Rock legend Jimi Hendrix (1942) Family Matters star Jaleel White (1976) Rapper Twista (1973) District 9 star Sharlto Copley (1973) Melrose Place actress Brooke Langton (1970...
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
Selena Gomez Is Thrilled Her Mother Is Pregnant
Selena Gomez had a very special reason to give thanks this Thanksgiving - she's about to become a big sister. Justin Bieber's girlfriend took to Twitter on Friday to reveal her mom Mandy Teefey i...
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Little Blue Invasion! Check Out 'The Smurfs' On Blu-ray & DVD Dec. 2
In their race to escape the malevolent wizard Gargamel, the little blue forest dwellers find themselves suddenly transported to Central Park in "The Smurfs."
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George Clooney's Girlfriend Celebrates Thanksgiving on the Beach
Stacy Keibler is photographed hitting the waves on jet ski during a vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with the 'Descendants' actor and their friends, Cindy Crawford and Molly Sims.
Celebrity Birthdays - November 26, 2011
Happy Birthday to: British pop singer Natasha Bedingfield (1981) Hip-hop/rap artist DJ Khaled (1975) Actress/model Garcelle Beauvais (1966) Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie (1945) Legendary R&...
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Thomas Jane Slams Ageism
Actor Thomas Jane has slammed ageism in society, insisting he's sick of having to dress like a youngster to remain relevant.
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Model Maggie Rizer Announces Birth of Baby Boy
'He has 10 fingers, 10 toes, sandy hair, deep blue eyes and is practically perfect, in every possible way,' gushes Maggie about her newborn son, Alexander Rafahi Mehran III.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Video: Justin Bieber Needs Help in Naming All the Continents
When challenged to name all seven continents during his appearance on 'Late Show with David Letterman', the 'Baby' hitmaker offers the North Pole and Canada as some of his answers.
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