Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Nicole Scherzinger
Singer Nicole Scherzinger backstage at Conde Nast Media Group presents Movies Rock at the Kodak Theater

SHIRLEY MAC LAINE

She is not looking well!

These are the most recent pics of Shirley MacLaine, taken this past weekend in Los Angeles.

The photo agency that took this pic tells us that she was "twitching a lot."

So sad.

We hope it's nothing serious!

July 13
Shockwaves at the Box Office

With “The Dark Knight” looming on the horizon, this is the moment of summer when all the box office gurus check in with their frantic forecasts.

So far the prognosticators have had a rough time.

Many were bearish about the summer, given the absence of any Spidermen or Harry Potters and the fact that the pirates finally had fled the bloody Caribbean.

Well, they were wrong. Summer ’08 thus far has run parallel to the record $4.2 billion summer of ’07, though that may wobble because July will be Potterless (Dark Knight is the best hope to compensate).

Many of the other forecasts also have turned out to be skewed.

Some insiders thought Eddie Murphy’s “Meet Dave” might serve as effective counter-programming against “Hellboy II” or “Hancock”

(Variety’s own critic wrongly predicted mid-range results) but Eddie bombed -- maybe he was right in stiffing his own premier last week.

(“Hellboy II” had a $35.9M weekend while “Hancock” held well at $33M.

Dave registered $5.3M)Going back a few weeks, forecasters saw big results for "Speed Racer" and were dubious about Robert Downey Jr. as an action star.

"Iron Man" has now reached $313.4 million and "Speed Racer" can’t budge past $45 million in the U.S.

Remember the presumed shootout bewteen "Get Smart" and "Love Guru"?

It fizzled: "Get Smart" is holding well at $111.5 million while "Love Guru" has just oozed past $30 million.

The big face-off arrives next weekend when the summer’s darkest movie, appropriately called "The Dark Knight", opens against the summer’s most dopily cheerful, "Mamma Mia".

If you believe the Warner Bros. publicity machine, every theater in the U.S. already is sold out for the Batman epic through the end of summer.

The fanboys are double-dosing their Ritalin in fervid anticipation, and the critics are assuring us that this isn’t just a superhero story, it’s a morality tale.

"Mamma Mia" has no such aspirations, but its box office prospects are hard to predict.

On the downside, says Pam McClintock, Variety’s box office guru, it should do "Hairspray" business -- a $27 million opening in the U.S. and perhaps $118 million ultimatelyBut "Mamma Mia" also has a few special things going for it.

It’s the ultimate chick flick. Further the stage show has had mythic success around the world, and the movie is already doing brisk business in a few foreign openings.

The big city critics will be orgasmic over the sight of Meryl Streep camping it up.
It’s hard to remember a moment when two such contrasting movies opened against one another.
I can visualize the two separate audiences pouring out of their respective plexes -- giddy chicks chatting it up in one stream, somber teens in the other, already text messaging their buddies about the meaning of life.

There are still several important openings later in the summer, so the surprises will doubtless continue.

That’s what keeps the box office gamesmanship so intriguing.
And, lets face it:
In this economy when all the charts keep going down, it’s a relief that at least the movie theaters are resisting foreclosure.

Selma Blair Still Ignites in ‘Hellboy 2’

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Blair returns as Hellboy’s hottie in ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’

By Brian Frederick

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)

7/13/08 –

“The whole story of ‘Hellboy II’ really hinges on what was created in the underworld,” says Universal Pictures ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ star Selma Blair.

“I think the most tenacious of the monsters are the littlest ones.”

“Tthe Tooth Fairies,” says Blair.

“They’re cute. They’re really, really cute.

Guillermo outdid himself on the cuteness scale with the tooth fairy, but they’re nasty little things.”

“After the first Hellboy, I loved the movie, but my life didn’t change that much with work,” says Blair.

“We all stayed the way we were as our characters, as this misfit group of underground actors.”

“It’s amazing to be back with Guillermo” says Blair.

“I think this movie outdoes the first one.

The scope of it is huge, to all be away together in Budapest for six months.

Guillermo has accomplished so much, especially with ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, that it’s given him a little more leeway to use this awesome mind he has.”

‘Hellboy 2’ director Guillermo del Toro made changes to Blair’s character in the sequel.

“It was important to Guillermo that my character showed that she had matured,” says Blair.

“He didn’t want any of the Sad Sack of Liz to keep coming forward. Guillermo kept having to remind me,

‘Stop crying’, ‘She’s stronger’, ‘She doesn’t have to cry in this scene’, ‘Stop with your tears’, ‘She’s strong’.”

“I kept wanting to go back to the Liz that I knew because that was what was created so indelibly in my heart,” says Blair.

“I thought that I knew her and it would be a breeze.

Liz this time was much more of a straightforward character, a much more functioning woman despite the fact she has such a strange power.

I was pleased to see her a lot more engaged in life.”

Blair’s character has come to embrace the pyro-kinetic energy that threatens anyone who comes near her.

“Petty things are really amplified when you have superpowers,” says Blair.

“When Hellboy and Liz have a row, it’s not just, ‘Okay, I’m going for a walk, see you later.

It’s more like, ‘I’m going to blow up this damn kitchen and will see you later.’

I find it adorable.”

“I loved fairy tales when I was a child,” says Blair.

“I loved Aesop’s, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Matchstick Girl.

I love the ones that end badly. I still have such a fascination with that and with death.

I see the beauty in it.

I think decay can look quite gorgeous.”

In ‘Hellboy 2’, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and fellow agent Doug Jones are sent to investigate an attack at an auction house by thousands of ravenous tooth fairies.

The duo of Hellboy and Liz are part of a team of agents belonging to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development (B.P.R.D.).

Founded to expose occults uncovered during operations in Nazi Germany, today the organization operates as a private association funded by government agencies for defense against paranormal events.

Guillermo del Toro has described Selma Blair as “one of today’s most versatile actors.”

Selma Blair attracted his attention for her performance in ‘Cruel Intentions.’

A Michigan native and graduate of the University of Michigan, Blair moved to New York City in the early 90s to be a photographer.

Acting lessons at Stella Adler’s Conservatory of Acting led to her breakthrough scene, a spit-swapping kiss with Sarah Michele Gellar in ‘Cruel Intentions’.

That kiss may go down as one of the hottest kisses in Hollywood film.

‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’

Running Time: 1 hr. 50 min.

Release Date: July 11, 2008 (USA)

Rated P-G 13: for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some action

Distributor: Universal Studios