Movie News
Hollywood's record year climbs higher as domestic box office tops $10 billion for first time
By Associated Press - December 23, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) Hollywood is crossing a new milestone as domestic revenues top $10 billion for the first time. Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com projected that 2009 receipts would pass that mark Tuesday. The box office already surpassed the $9.7...
Reality TV star bids $4,200 to live like Ralphie for 2 nights in 'A Christmas Story' house
By Associated Press - December 22, 2009
CLEVELAND (AP) A reality TV star gets to spend a couple of nights living like Ralphie in the house used for the movie "A Christmas Story." The experience is a "major award" for Billy Jeffrey, who says he's obsessed with the 1983 film. He bid $4,200 in an online charity auction and was...
Arnold Stang, nerdy actor who appeared with Berle, Sinatra and was 'Top Cat' voice, dies at 91
MARK PRATT - December 22, 2009
BOSTON (AP) Arnold Stang, an actor who appeared alongside Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra and was known for his nerdy looks and distinctive nasal voice, has died. He was 91. Stang died Sunday of pneumonia at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts, said JoAnne Stang, his wife of 60...
Post-Madonna, Guy Ritchie puts his faith in hard work and 'Sherlock Holmes'
JILL LAWLESS - December 22, 2009
LONDON (AP) All in all, Guy Ritchie has had a pretty good 2009. He had a blast making his big-budget thriller "Sherlock Holmes," stayed focused on his work and avoided coverage of the fallout from his split with Madonna. "I haven't read the papers for so long now," said Ritchie. "I...
Venice festival honors John Woo with lifetime achievement award
MIN LEE - December 22, 2009
HONG KONG (AP) Organizers for the Venice Film Festival have honored John Woo with its lifetime achievement award, saying the veteran director transformed action movies both in his native Hong Kong and his current professional home of Hollywood. Calling the 61-year-old filmmaker "an innovator of...
Movie review: Labored 'Squeakquel' offers twice the chipmunks, half the fun
GLENN WHIPP - December 21, 2009
"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" offers exactly two big laughs for its kiddo target audience one involves passing gas, the other a shot to the crotch. Since there's a fair amount of time between these two bits of comic invention, young and old alike have ample opportunity to...
Father says Kim Peek, Utah man who inspired Dustin Hoffman's 'Rain Man' character, dies at 58
DOUG ALDEN - December 22, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The man who inspired the title character in the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man" has died. Kim Peek was 58. His father, Fran, says Peek had a major heart attack Saturday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray....
Movie review: Downey's no Sherlock Holmes, but it works in Ritchie's Conan Doyle update
DAVID GERMAIN - December 21, 2009
Take it from a lifelong fan of Arthur Conan Doyle: Robert Downey Jr. is so NOT Sherlock Holmes. That's not a hindrance in fact, it's a big help as he and director Guy Ritchie bring Conan Doyle's dusty Victorian-age detective into the modern world. Enough of the trappings...
Movie review: Love is simple-minded in 'It's Complicated,' though Streep's always a pleasure
DAVID GERMAIN - December 21, 2009
"It's Complicated" is lying from the moment the title appears. Writer-director Nancy Meyers' latest relationship comedy isn't what the name promises at all. It's simple, almost as simple about grown-up romance and heartache as the average Hollywood teen comedy is about youthful love...
California appeals court rejects Roman Polanski's bid to have criminal case dismissed
LINDA DEUTSCH - December 21, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) In a case that has polarized public passions, director Roman Polanski did not win his freedom Monday for a 32-year-old sex offense, but an appeals court said in a strongly worded opinion there was probable judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in his case. The opinion...
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