Tag Archives: Entertainment/Culture

Our selected star to be included in our “Hollywood Actress of the Week Photo Gallery” is Halle Berry. Halle Maria Berry born August 14, 1966 is an American actress and former fashion model.

Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming the first and only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood and has been involved in the production side of several of the films in which she performed. Berry is also a Revlon spokesmodel.
Before becoming an actress, Berry entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant (1986), and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. She made her film debut in 1991 with a brief appearance in Jungle Fever. Her breakthrough was in 1992′s Boomerang, which led to roles in films such as The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998). In addition to her Academy Award win, the 21st century brought a new level of prominence to Berry, with roles in films such as Storm in the X-Men film series (2000-present), Die Another Day (2002), where she played Bond Girl Jinx, and Cloud Atlas (2012). She also won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for Catwoman and accepted the award in person, one of the few people to do so. This week her movie “the Call” won at the box office.
To read more go to Halle Berry
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Tonight, Madonna took the stage at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards to present the Vito Russo Award to advocate, award-winning journalist, author and talk show host Anderson Cooper. The Vito Russo Award is presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality.
Madonna wore a Boy Scouts outfit as part of GLAAD’s year-long campaign to end the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay scouts and leaders.

Madonna and Anderson Cooper joined hosts Lara Spencer, Josh Elliott and Sam Champion (Good Morning America); Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters); NFL players Brendon Ayanbadejo (Baltimore Ravens) and Chris Kluwe (Minnesota Vikings); Christian Borle, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez (Smash); Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey); Jenni “JWOWW” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi (The Jersey Shore, Snooki & JWoww); Annie Clark, Cristine Prosperi (Degrassi); Straight But Not Narrow founder Avan Jogia; Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil); John Leguizamo (Ice Age, Moulin Rouge); Laverne Cox (Musical Chairs); GLAAD’s Strategic Giving Officer Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life); producing dream team Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and others at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, which helps fund GLAAD’s work to amplify stories from the LGBT community that build support for equality.
Photos Courtesy GLAAD Awards and PRPhotos.com
For a complete list of winners, click here.
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“Jobs” or “jOBS” or however you want to spell it, will not be coming to a theater on April 19th. The movie about Steve Jobs, starring Ashton Kutcher, has been yanked from its April 19th opening date.
Open Road Films says it needs more time to market the film. But “Jobs” received lukewarm reviews from its opening at Sundance. And now Apple is having stock problems. They’re also being pelted by Samsung and other companies.
Suddenly, Apple — hard to believe — is getting baked. Open Road says it chose April 19th because it’s the Apple anniversary date. But if they wait until May, they’ll be butting up against summer releases. Until August, the schedule is not that conducive to releasing a middling movie with a so so TV actor. We may not see “jOBS” for a while. Maybe they should time it to the release of the iPhone 6. Or 7.
To read more go to www.showbiz411.com
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There is an amusing phenomenon, going back at least as long as I can remember, to underestimate the box office potential of films featuring actors of color. We don’t see it coming, we’re shocked when it happens, and then studios don’t actually factor this new information into their production slate.
Anyway, The Call was the top new release of the weekend, earning $17.2 million. Yes the film played strongly among African Americans, at least partially because the movie bothered to feature a few (Halle Berry and Morris Chestnut among many others) in more than just token roles. Tracking this debut compared to Berry’s previous efforts is tough because she has had co-starring roles in stuff like Die Another Day ($47 million debut), The Flintstones ($29 million), and the X-Men trilogy ($54m, $85m, and $102m).
In terms of starring vehicles, this is bigger than the likes of Catwoman ($16 million), and A Perfect Stranger ($11 million), but below Gothica ($19 million). The marketing smartly highlighted that it was a film about one woman rescuing another woman from peril, with no clear male lead. It played 61% female and 53% over-30. The picture cost just WWE just $13 million before selling the rights to Sony and earned a B+ from Cinemascore, so it may just have legs. Even if its appeal is about “black audiences have nothing for them right now”, Warner Bros’ Jackie Robinson biopic 42 doesn’t open until April 12th.
To read more go to Mendelson’s Memos
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The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced Audience Award-winners today from the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Emerging Visions, Midnighters, 24 Beats Per Second, SXGlobal, Festival Favorites and Design Award categories. Audience Award results for all categories were certified by the accounting firm of Maxwell Locke & Ritter.
The Audience Awards follow the previously announced 2013 Jury Awards, which included Grand Jury Winners Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12 for Narrative Feature, and Ben Nabors’ WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL for Documentary Feature. For the complete list of 2013 Award Winners, visit sxsw.com/film.
The 2013 SXSW Film Festival hosted a total of 133 features, consisting of 78 World Premieres, 13 North American Premieres and 9 U.S. Premieres, with 76 first-time directors. 110 shorts will screen as part of 10 overall shorts programs. The nearly 250 films were selected from a record number of overall submissions, over 5,700, comprised of approximately 2,100 features and 3,600 shorts, with an overall increase of 7% over 2012.
2013 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award Winners:
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION Winner: Short Term 12 Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION Winner: The Short Game Director: Josh Greenbaum
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT Winner: An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story Director: Al Reinert
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT Winner: Zero Charisma Directors: Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews
VISIONS Winner: Maidentrip Director: Jillian Schlesinger
SXSW FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2013 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS
MIDNIGHTERS Winner: Cheap Thrills Director: E.L. Katz
24 BEATS PER SECOND Winner: A Band Called Death Directors: Mark Christopher Covino & Jeff Howlett
SXGLOBAL Winner: The Punk Syndrome Directors: Jukka Kärkkäinen & J-P Passi
FESTIVAL FAVORITES Winner: The Crash Reel Director: Lucy Walker
SXSW Film Design Awards
EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN Audience Award Winner: Kiss of the Damned Designer: Akiko Stehrenberger, Gravillis Inc
EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN Audience Award Winner: Chasing Shakespeare Designer: Lucky Post
As today is the final day of SXSW Film, additional screenings have been scheduled as follows for all Audience Award-winners:
Audience Award: Narrative Feature Competition
Short Term 12
03/16/2013, Topfer Theatre at ZACH, 9:30 PM
Audience Award: Documentary Feature Competition
The Short Game
03/16/2013, Stateside Theatre, 6:45 PM
Audience Award: 24 Beats Per Second
A Band Called Death
03/16/2013, Vimeo Theater, 7:15 PM
Audience Award: Visions
Maidentrip
03/16/2013, Alamo Ritz 1, 9:30 PM
Audience Award: Narrative Spotlight
Zero Charisma
03/16/2013, Stateside Theatre, 9:30 PM
2 of 3
SXSW FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2013 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS
Audience Award: Documentary Spotlight
An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story
03/16/2013, Vimeo Theater, 9:45 PM
Audience Award: Midnighters
Cheap Thrills
03/16/2013, Alamo Ritz 1, 11:59 PM
Audience Award: SXGlobal
The Punk Syndrome
03/16/2013, Alamo Ritz 2, [...]

Our selected star to be included in our “Hollywood Movie Star of the Week Photo Gallery” is Gerard Butler. Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.

A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). In 2003, he played André Marek in the adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Timeline.
He garnered critical acclaim for his work as the lead in Joel Schumacher’s 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects including P.S. I Love You (2007), Nim’s Island (2008), RocknRolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Gamer (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and as a voice actor in How to Train Your Dragon (2010).His new movie Olympus Has Fallen will open March 22, 2013.
To read more go to GERARD BUTLER
Photos BY PRPhotos.com
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Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Rick Yune, and director Antoine Fuqua visited with men and women of service at the Naval Station in San Diego and Camp Pendleton on Saturday, March 16, 2013, prior to screening OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN at both facilities.
ABOUT OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (In Theatres March 22, 2013
When the White House (Secret Service Code: “Olympus”) is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning?s inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger crisis. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) directs an all-star cast featuring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd and Rick Yune.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/OlympusHasFallenMovie
TWITTER: #OlympusHasFallen @OlympusMovie
Photo Credit: Robert Benson/Wire Image
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For the first hour or so of The Call, you’ll think you’re watching a new B-movie classic.
The picture is staged as a typical ‘special location’ thriller. We get a solid prologue, a decent chunk of the movie set during the actual situation we paid to see, and then, as must always be a the case, a finale set away from the prime location.
Speed had to eventually leave the bus, Shoot to Kill had to eventually get out of the mountains, and Red Eye couldn’t just end on that plane. It’s how a film like this handles the eventual disembarking that determines its overall success. Sadly, The Call blows the dismount by a considerable margin, trading plausible real-world tension for generic genre cliches. But up until that time, it is a superior thriller, and a successful return to the somewhat lost art of what Roger Ebert liked to call the bruised-forearm movie.
For the first 2/3, The Call is a nearly perfect example of what it’s trying to be.
To read more go to Mendelson’s Memos
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Following the success of ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, director Marina Zenovich planned to make a short film about how that film reopened the case.
She was scheduled to interview Polanski in November of 2009 after he completed THE GHOSTWRITER. Polanski was arrested unexpectedly in September of 2009.

ROMAN POLANSKI: ODD MAN OUT explores the motivations behind Polanski’s 2009 arrest and his 10 month house arrest in Switzerland.
In 2009, celebrated director Roman Polanski was arrested at the Zurich Film Festival. His weekend jaunt turned into a 10 month imprisonment. A follow up to the Emmy award winning “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” — which some say was one of the reasons for his arrest —- explores the bizarre clash of politics, celebrity justice and the media.
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30,000 people donated an average of $64 during a several hour period yesterday, and thus we will be getting a Veronica Mars movie sometime next summer.
Creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell used Kickstarter to basically prove to Warner Bros. that there is indeed an interest in a continuation of the cult detective drama that ran for three low-rated seasons on the CW back in 2004-2007.
The deal was basically to raise $2 million in a month and Warner Bros. would agree to distribute and market the film, giving it a limited theatrical release and the various home-viewing options. They hit their target at 5:55 pm this evening. I made a bitchy joke earlier in the day about raising money to find domestic ‘food insecurity’ among American children by calling such an initiative ‘Save Firefly!’ or something to that effect. My first instincts were ones of priorities and what this said about our ‘entitlement culture’. Upon reflection (I purposely didn’t write anything immediately), I’m still not sure how I feel about this. This is indeed very interesting, it may even be *news*. But is it good news overall.
To read more go to Mendelson’s Memos
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