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03-14-08 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE!
MIJAC'S NEVERLAND SAVED FROM AUCTION BLOCK: Attorney says singer worked out 'confidential' agreement with Fortress.
*An 11th hour refinancing agreement has saved Michael Jackson's sprawling Neverland ranch near Santa Barbara from being auctioned later this month to pay off an overdue loan, reports the Associated Press.
Jackson's attorney L. Londell McMillan said Thursday that his client entered into a "confidential" agreement with Fortress Investment Group, LLC that allows him to retain ownership of the 2,500-acre property in Los Olivos.
"Neverland and MJ are fine," McMillan told the AP.
A source close to the singer who requested anonymity said it's not clear whether Jackson will keep Neverland. He has not lived there since his acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005.
TWO STATE WITNESSES ADDED TO R. KELLY CASE: Pair expected to bolster prosecutor's claims about alleged victim's identity.
*The judge in R. Kelly's child pornography case has allowed prosecutors to add two people to their list of witnesses in advance of the May 9 trial, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Both are expected to corroborate prosecutors' claims about the identity of the girl, who allegedly was videotaped having sex with the singer, sources told the newspaper. The girl whom prosecutors believe was in the video has denied that it was her. In January, the judge rebuffed a bid by prosecutors to allow an expert to testify about the girl's denial.
Sources said both witnesses knew Kelly and the girl about the time the video was made. One witness has worked for Kelly and had met the girl. The other was a friend of the girl and had met Kelly, sources said.
Kelly's lawyer, Edward Genson, said in court Wednesday that he already had interviewed one of the new witnesses, who both sides said was from the Chicago area. But he said he had no information about the second person. Gaughan said both sides could question the two witnesses before the start of trial, according to the Tribune.
The judge called the prosecution's last-minute request to add witnesses "extraordinary." Although he approved the new witnesses, he said he didn't want to push back the trial, noting that the case has come up on his docket 112 times. Both sides will be back in court April 1 to discuss jury instructions.
Kelly, dressed in a dark brown suit and silver tie, appeared in court but did not speak. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and faces up to 15 years behind bars if convicted.
SNOOP DOGG INVADES DAYTIME TV: Rapper to make remix "One Life to Live" theme song and make cameo appearance for May sweeps.
*Turns out those early reports of Snoop Dogg visiting the fictional town of Llanview are true.
The rapper, 36, will make an extended cameo on the ABC soap opera "One Life to Live" to perform two songs from his new album, "Ego Trippin'," at Llanview's Ultra Violet club, the network said Thursday.
"I've been a fan of `One Life to Live' since I was a baby," Snoop told the Associated Press. "My momma always had it on the tube in tha crib growing up. The opportunity to change up the theme song and give it some of my flavor will make the show the Life of The Party."
Snoop's episodes, to air May 8 and 9, will feature performances of "Sensual Seduction" and Life of Da Party," as well as his re-mixed version of the show's theme song. He will also act in scenes.
TERRENCE HOWARD SIGNS A RECORD DEAL?: Actor and budding Broadway talent reportedly inks with Columbia Records.
*Entertainment Weekly's Web site is reporting that Oscar nominated actor Terrence Howard, currently starring in an all-black revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, has signed a record deal with Columbia Records to release an album.
“The full name [of his outfit] is 'Terrence Howard Presents Me and the Band of Kings,'” a label rep tells EW.com, adding that their as-yet-untitled debut CD “is slated for a fall release.”
Meanwhile, the "Hustle & Flow" star spoke briefly to the New York Daily News about his Broadway turn as Brick in the Debbie Allen-directed "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
"It's my first play, so I'm nervous every night," Howard told the Rush & Malloy column. "[I get over it] because Jeremy Piven told me to just stomp your feet, yell your own name and take control of yourself before you go out there."
GAME 'APOLOGIZES' FOR CONFUSING FOLKS: Rapper 'felt it appropriate not to give an exact date on my release' from jail.
*In the wake of conflicting reports about his early release from jail this week, The Game released a statement Wednesday apologizing for the confusion and offering an explanation.
“I apologize for the conflicting news on my release, but due to the sensitive negotiations on this matter I felt it appropriate not to give an exact date on my release," The Game stated. "I am truly grateful to my attorney, family and management for doing a great job in this respect."
As previously reported, MTV News said Monday that The Game had been released from jail eight days into his 60-day sentence on gun charges due to overcrowding. But later that day, the rapper's manager released a statement calling the report false, and claimed The Game was merely transferred to another detention facility. The next day, officials at L.A.'s Twin Towers facility where the rapper was held confirmed that he was indeed a free man.
"Upon my release I went directly to the studio with producers Cool & Dre and recorded several records, including my street record 'Big Dreams.'"
The Game continued. "Thank you to all my fans as well for the support."
The statement also noted that "Big Dreams" will be serviced to DJ’s on Tuesday, (March 18) and will be preceding The Game’s first single off of his new album "L.A.X. (Los Angeles Times)," which is scheduled for release in June 2008.
ARETHA FRANKLIN'S HOME IN JEOPARDY: Tax man may come knocking over an attorney's mistake.
*Aretha Franklin says a mistake by her attorney has caused her $700,000 slate-roofed brick mansion in Detroit to fall into foreclosure over
$445 in 2005 taxes and late fees.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the Queen of Soul owes a total of $19,192 in back taxes on the property through 2007. She has stated she will pay what she owes and reclaim her home by a March 31 deadline.
A spokesman for the Wayne County treasurer's office says the foreclosure judgment for $445 was entered earlier this month.
Records show Franklin owes $18,746 in back taxes and fees for the
2006 and 2007 tax years, but foreclosure proceedings on those debts wouldn't begin until next year.
PRINCE CHARLES AND CAMILLA GET IRIE: Royal couple join drum circle outside of Bob Marley's home in Jamaica.
*Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are on a tour of the Caribbean to promote environmental protection, but the cause took a pause for a moment when the royal couple joined a drum session outside the former home of reggae great Bob Marley in Jamaica.
Rastafarian musicians drummed alongside the couple on Wednesday before Marley's widow, Rita, and sons Robert and Rohan led the British visitors on a tour of the singing legend's home, which is now a museum in his honor.
Earlier Wednesday, hundreds of people crowded the streets for a glimpse of the royals during their visit to an impoverished community.
Charles spoke with townspeople and planted a seedling at a community center in Rose Town, where his Foundation for the Built Environment is helping with revitalization efforts.
Gov. General Kenneth Hall and British High Commissioner Jeremy Cresswell accompanied the royals, who are on a five-island tour aboard a 246-foot yacht that boasts a hot tub, gym and 24-member crew.
'RAISIN' DVD TREATED LIKE A FEATURE FILM: Plus, marketing campaign to promote its unprecedented run-up to premiere.
*Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is pulling out all the stops with its promotion of the May 6 DVD release of the ABC movie "A Raisin in the Sun."
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the marketing campaign plays up the fact that the adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway revival scored high ratings when it aired on Feb. 25. It's the highest-rated movie of the week among women this season and was the No. 1 program among all households the night it aired. "Raisin" also was the first broadcast network TV movie to screen at the Sundance Film Festival.
Marketers for Sony Pictures are making sure folks know that "Raisin," which revolves around a family living and struggling on Chicago's South Side in the 1950s, arrives on DVD only two months after its TV debut – a dramatic departure from the way things were done in the days of VHS.
Television exposure of any kind meant certain death on the home video market as far as retailers were concerned, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Studios lobbied to keep feature films off the tube as long as they could. Any studio that released a film to pay-per-view within two months of its home video release could expect protest letters and calls for a boycott.
And TV movies, which actually could be seen for free on the small screen before they hit video, simply weren't bought at all.
The days of that mindset are apparently over. Television exposure is seen as a boost to DVD sales -- and as the soaring growth of the TV-DVD market indicates, made-for-TV programming is now considered a rightful art form with a built-in DVD audience.
The "Raisin" DVD will feature an assortment of extras of the kind normally reserved for high-profile theatricals, including an audio commentary with director Kenny Leon and a documentary on the making of the film. Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan and John Stamos star in the movie.
COMEDY CENTRAL TAPS SNOOP, DAVID ALAN GRIER: Snoop behind animation project; Grier to spoof celebrity news magazines.
*Comedy Central has added new television projects to its 2009 development slate: one from rapper Snoop Dogg, the other from comedian David Alan Grier, the network announced Wednesday.
The untitled Snoop Dogg project will take an animated look at the artist's life as a 15-year-old in 1980s Long Beach. Tha Doggfather and Tom Lynch will executive produce.
"We've been looking to get into business with Snoop, who's always fantastic on our roasts," said Lauren Corrao, Comedy Central's president of original programming and development. "He's one of those people who truly crosses over between music and comedy."
Meanwhile, the magazine-show parody "David Alan Grier's Chocolate News," originally developed at the channel last year as a presentation, will now be shot as a pilot.
WARIS DIRIE VS. BELGIAN COPS: Model said police treated her like a 'prostitute'; plus her lawyer says cab driver tried to rape her last week.
*Somali model Waris Dirie, who briefly went missing in Belgium last week, is accusing police there of treating her like a "prostitute" while she was in the country campaigning against female genital mutilation.
Dirie, a UN ambassador, said police threatened to put her in jail when she asked for help to find her hotel after leaving a nightclub, Austria's Kurier daily reported Tuesday.
"They treated me like a prostitute," the naturalized Austrian was reported to have said in comments filmed as part of a documentary being made about her. She also said her requests for help at two police stations were ignored "because of the color of her skin," another Austrian newspaper reported.
Brussels police spokesman Christian De Coninck denied the allegations, telling AFP: "It's completely false. When she says she was treated like a prostitute, it's false. When she says she was not well treated because she is black, it is false."
"She missed several important meetings, including with (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice. I think she is looking to justify herself, because to admit that you missed them because you were out and about doesn't look very good," he added.
Dirie had also been expected in Kerkrade, the Netherlands, last week to receive the Euriade Foundation prize.
Meanwhile, Dirie's lawyer said she was missing briefly last week because a cab driver held her hostage for two days and tried to rape her. That account, however, differs from an earlier version Dirie provided to authorities.
De Coninck said that Dirie forgot the name and location of her hotel, and a patrol car had driven her from hotel to hotel in search of her room. Belgian prosecutors said Saturday that she was simply lost in the city and slept in hotel lobbies because she did not have money to pay for a room.
"It's quite a regular thing that we look after a tourist lost in Brussels," De Coninck said, adding that there was no evidence she was threatened by the man she was found with, who has since identified himself as a local window cleaner.
Dirie's rep said she did not call police about the alleged attempted rape because she did not want to speak about it and was in a state of shock.
STATEMENTS RELEASED IN SEAN TAYLOR CASE: Alleged shooter and two others burned their clothes to cover up the crime.
*The teen charged with the shooting death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor told police he and his two accomplices burned their clothes in an attempt to cover up the crime, reports the Associated Press.
The statement by 17-year-old Eric Rivera Jr. and those by two other suspects were released Wednesday by state prosecutors at the request of The Associated Press and other news outlets. None of the statements contain outright confessions to the crime.
However, the suspects shed more light on events leading up to the Nov. 26 shooting, which authorities say took place in a botched robbery attempt at Taylor's Miami home. The All-Pro athlete died the next day from heavy blood loss.
Rivera, like the other suspects from the Fort Myers area, told detectives there were five people on the trip that night, although only four are charged. All five burned their shirts, gloves and other clothes after returning home following Taylor's shooting, he said, so "nobody can find out who did it."
Another suspect, 20-year-old Jason Scott Mitchell, said he thought about coming forward when he found out it was Taylor who had been shot. Mitchell said he was told the day after the shooting by another suspect, Charles Wardlow.
"It's like when I found out who it was, it's like, I mean, I just felt like turning myself in," Mitchell told police. But he did not.
Mitchell's statement also provides new details on a birthday party he attended in September at Taylor's home. Mitchell said he stayed at the house for several days, helping Taylor cut the grass and make other preparations for the party — tasks for which he was paid $300 in $50 bills by Taylor.
The party was for Sasha Johnson, who was Taylor's sister and who was dating suspect Wardlow's nephew Christopher, Mitchell said. He said Taylor gave Johnson $10,000 in a paper bag as a birthday present, and that he saw other large sums of money in the house.
Mitchell also said he thought Taylor would be traveling with the Redskins during their game that weekend in Tampa, even though he was out with a knee injury. And, he said, the group almost ran out of gas on the way back to Fort Myers but managed to scrape together $2 in change to make it home.
The third statement released Wednesday was from Venjah Hunte, 20, but it provided almost no new details. Hunte's attorney has said his client never went inside Taylor's house and did not take part in the crime.
No statement was released from Charles Wardlow, the fourth suspect.
MISSY SPRINKLES D.C. GO-GO IN NEW ALBUM: Listening party held Tuesday night for set due in late May.
*After listening to an eight-song preview of Missy Elliot's forthcoming seventh album, Billboard.com describes the fare as "shaping up to be a feast of her trademark eclectic beats mixed with tinges of '70s Washington D.C. go-go funk."
The Goldmind/Atlantic Records album, due in late May with a title to be chosen by fans, features production by Timbaland, Souldiggaz, Danjahandz, Timbaland and Point Guard
Two tracks from the project - "Ching-A-Ling" and "Shake Your Pom Pom," produced by Timbaland – have already been released and also appear on the "Step Up 2 The Streets" soundtrack, which dropped last month.
The album's first official single will be "Best, Best," in which Elliott, repeating the last word to every sentence throughout, rhymes, "We fuss fuss / we fight fight / we make up by the end of the night night."
The Jazmin Sullivan-assisted "Like When You Play The Music," the drum-heavy "Hip-Hop Don't Die" and the sensual "Milk & Cookies," in which Elliott lightheartedly harmonizes about her capabilities in the bedroom, among other things, will also appear on the album, Billboard reports.
TIKI BARBER PUSHES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN VA: Former NFL star visits mayor to discuss investment in low-income dwellings.
*Richmond, Va-based Web site styleweekly.com is reporting that former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber visited City Hall last week to discuss his investment in low-income housing projects with a contingent that included Mayor L. Douglas Wilder.
Barber's Tiki Ventures, LLC, has partnered with a New York City firm Related Affordable to purchase, renovate and re-landscape Woodcroft Village, a 250-unit apartment complex in the neighborhood of Fulton.
As part of the project’s financing, Barber wants to acquire federal low-income housing credits, which are available to developers who agree to keep rents low. In Richmond, that means if a developer rents to a family of four, for example, the family would have to make less than $34,650 a year, and rent could be no more than $780 a month for a two-bedroom unit or $900 for a three-bedroom, including utilities, styleweekly reports.
Barber, a correspondent for NBC’s “Today Show,” has also applied for credits toward projects in Portsmouth, Danville and Roanoke, Va.
RIHANNA 'HONORED' TO HELP LEUKEMIA PATIENT: Singer discusses effort to help mother of two find a bone marrow donor.
*Pop superstar Rihanna has expressed that she is grateful to have been in a position to help a leukemia-stricken New York City mother of two find a bone marrow donor.
"There are no words to express how happy I am for Lisa [Gershowitz-Flynn] and her family," Rihanna told People magazine. "I am so thankful she found a donor and I feel honored to be a part of such an amazing miracle."
As previously reported, the singer lent her name to a campaign in search of a bone marrow match for Flynn. The day after Thanksgiving, the 41-year-old attorney was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer called Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
After Rihanna's public plea for help last month, more than 5,000 People readers contacted DKMS, the world's leading bone marrow donor center, to become potential donors. Flynn is now awaiting a bone marrow transplant.
"My life will be saved because of you, my family and friends (old and new)," Flynn wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "My children (Michael, 5, and Alexandra, 3) will have their mother, my husband will have his wife, and my parents will have their daughter. Please continue to spread the word about how important it is to fill the bone marrow registry with donors to save others."
"This blessing has continued to keep me aware of how precious life really is," says Rihanna. "I will be praying for Lisa and her family as they move into a hopeful future."
MARIO ALREADY TALKING SMACK ABOUT 'DWTS': Singer says he's the one to beat this season on ABC's ballroom dance floor.
*Professional ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff has already taken one dance partner named Mario to the final two of "Dancing with the Stars."
This season, R&B singer Mario hopes his partnership with the Ukranian-born dancer will be even more successful than her pairing with season 3 favorite Mario Lopez, who is now her boyfriend.
"She has a lot of energy, a lot of personality," Mario says of Smirnoff. "And I have to keep up with her all day, twenty-four-seven. And when she’s dragging just a little bit, I’m like, 'Oh, thank you God!'"
As is customary with any Smirnoff partner, things have not gone smoothly so far during rehearsals for the Monday premiere. Mario says getting the dance moves memorized has been one of the biggest challenges.
“I’ll have it that day, and the next day I’ll come back and I’ll remember it, but I won’t do it with the same intensity. She’ll get upset, and then I’ll get upset,” he tells People. “So, we kind of butt heads, but overall, I think we got a good shot at taking it all the way.”
Mario says he was able to teach Smirnoff a thing or two for their second dance on Monday night — the hip-hugging quickstep. “It’s almost like dancing on the ocean because you are constantly going up and down like waves, and we’re riding the waves, so I’ve been teaching her about the ‘motion in the ocean.’"
Not that the other Mario has anything to fear, as this Mario seems to know his boundaries. “I respect Mario, for him being on the show and doing a great job,” the singer tells People, “but as far as me and Karina goes, we’re working really hard to get that trophy.”
BIG BOI'S BALLET ADDS KHUJO, SLEEPY BROWN: Artists join stage production of project with Atlanta Ballet.
*Big Boi's ballet production, a partnership with the Atlanta Ballet titled "big," has added rapper Khujo Goodie and singer Sleepy Brown to a cast that already includes Scar, Konkrete, Big Rube, C-Bone and Rock D, reports Allhiphop.com.
Choreographer Lauri Stallings describes big as "the place, event, and experience where we leave our inhibitions at the door, and move forward. big is an example of possibilities…a place for the senses to open, and be lifted, setting a new height for creativity and awareness towards ourselves and the people sitting right next to us."
The Atlanta Ballet, founded in 1929, has signed on to co-produce six performances of big with Big Boi. The production will also include new music by the OutKast MC alongside such opera classics as Verdi’s La Traviata.
big is slated to debut at Atlanta's Fabulous Fox Theater on April 10 and will run through April 13.
ITTY BITTY BITS: 'Discipline' drops; 'Rachel Ray' ratings; Fat Joe woofs; Mijac's new Billie Jean; Plies gets 'Real.'
*Janet Jackson's new album "Discipline" fell from its No. 1 perch atop the Billboard 200 album chart to No. 3 this week on sales of 57,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Country star Alan Jackson is the new leader of the pack with his album "Good Time." Elsewhere on the chart, Erykah Badu's "4th World War," the first half of her double album series "New Amerykah," falls from 2 to 6 this week; and Alicia Keys'
"As I Am" drops 5-8.
*There are rumblings that Rachel Ray's talk show, produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, may be cancelled as soon as her contract expires in 2010. According to the New York Post's Page Six, the problem is her ratings, which was a meager 2.5 when she debuted two years ago. One insider said that distributor King World "had hoped for more. 'Dr. Phil' beats 'Oprah' and gets like a 5.0 rating - and Rachael's set is very expensive and elaborate; his is just chairs." If Ray is axed, a possible replacement is already in the works: King World is producing a chat show for Marie Osmond, which would be ready by 2010.
*Fat Joe talks about a violent run-in he had with Brooklyn rapper Papoose in the new issue of Hip Hop Weekly, on stands today. "We pounded him out, we pounded his DJ out. His DJ went to the hospital," Joe says. "His right-hand man's lip looked like a 18-wheeler's tire. He's [Papoose] balled up in the corner. I'm thinkin' he learned his lesson, but I'm noticing now you gotta really comatose these dudes for them to really learn."
*Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies were called to Michael Jackson's newly-refinanced Neverland Ranch Monday night after security there detained a woman who was trespassing. Her name, kid you not, was Billie Jean Jackson. The 60-year-old woman, who shares her first and middle name with Michael's classic 1983 single, has apparently claimed for years that she is the singer's wife. She was arrested and booked at the Santa Barbara County Jail, reports TMZ.com.
*MGM is remaking the 1980 Irene Cara film "Fame," reports Daily Variety. Production is scheduled to begin by Labor Day on the updated version, and like the Alan Parker-directed original, it will follow the lives of students who attend an elite performing arts school in New York from audition to graduation. Kevin Tancharoen, choreographer of music videos and tours for such artists as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson, will make his directing debut on the project.
*Florida rapper Plies is currently working on his sophomore album, "Definition of Real," for a June 24 release via Big Gates/Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic Records, reports Billboard.com. In support of the set, Plies will embark on a "Plies/Don Diva Prison" tour in coming months. Details and tour dates have yet to be announced.
KWAME KILPATRICK SLAMMED FOR USING N-WORD: Detroit Mayor viewed as hypocrite in the wake of last summer's symbolic burial.
*Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is being called a hypocrite after using the N-word while speaking to reporters about his treatment since sexually-explicit text messages he sent to his former aide came to light.
"In the past 30 days, I've been called a nigger more than anytime in my entire life," said Kilpatrick, 37. "In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration."
Kilpatrick's use of the slur drew a sharp response from state Attorney General Mike Cox, who called it "race-baiting on par with David Duke and George Wallace" on Wednesday and said the mayor should step down for the good of the city and region, reports the Associated Press.
"What he said cannot be unsaid, and he is not fit to be mayor anymore," Cox, who is white, said in an interview on WJR-AM. "He's a very talented guy, but he has overstayed his day. He should resign, he should quit, whether he's charged or not."
Kilpatrick faces possible perjury charges from testimony during a whistle-blowers' trial and criticism over the text messages he sent to his former top aide, Christine Beatty. In a trial over a lawsuit against the city brought by two police officers who said they were wrongly fired, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath that they had been romantically involved.
Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning said of the mayor's use of the N-word: "He was explaining to the citizens of Detroit the situation he and his family have been put in by some very vile individuals who have decided they will thrust upon he and his family some very threatening forms of communications."
Some black leaders criticized Kilpatrick, saying he chose the wrong forum and wrong language for his outburst.
"It most especially was not a place to use the same word that, supposedly, we buried last summer," said the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit. "You can make references to it without using it."
But others said the context in which the mayor used the word should be considered.
"He was trying to make a point. He wasn't using it in the typical vernacular," said Richard J. McIntire, the national spokesman for the NAACP.
At a gathering in Detroit last July to symbolically bury the N-word, Kilpatrick stood before hundreds of people and proclaimed: "Die, N-word, and we don't want to see you 'round here no more."
OPENING THIS WEEK: Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
For movies opening March 14, 2008
by Kam Williams
BIG BUDGET FILMS
Doomsday (R for profanity, nudity, sexuality and graphic violence) Neil Marshall (The Descent) wrote and directed this sci-fi thriller about an elite squad of scientists dispatched to a quarantined hot zone in Scotland to find a cure for a lethal virus which has already claimed millions of lives. Cast includes Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell.
Horton Hears a Who (G) Jim Carrey provides the voiceover for the title character in this animated adaptation of the Dr. Seuss kiddie classic about an elephant determined to come to the assistance of the inhabitants of a tiny planet when he hears cries for help coming from a speck of dust floating through the air. Voice cast includes Steve Carrell, Carol Burnett, Jonah Hill, Jamie Pressly, SNL’s Amy Poehler, Isla Fisher, Will Arnett and Seth Rogen.
Never Back Down (PG-13 for mature themes, intense violence, profanity, teen partying and premarital sexuality) Overcoming-the-odds drama, set in Orlando, stars Sean Faris as the hot-headed new kid in town who starts studying mixed martial arts after being beaten up by a bully (Cam Gigandet) for flirting with his girlfriend (Amber Heard) at a party. Karate Kid-inspired adventure features Djimon Hounsou in the Mr. Miyagi role as the lad’s mild-mannered mentor.
INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS
Blind Mountain (Unrated) Sex slave saga, set in the Nineties in China’s Shaanxi Province, chronicles the harrowing ordeal of a college coed (Huang Lu) who is drugged and sold to a mountain man (Huang Degui) as a bride. (In Mandarin with subtitles)
Flash Point (R for graphic violence) Set in the Nineties in pre-annexation Hong Kong, this martial arts saga follows the efforts of a police sergeant (Donnie Yen) and his undercover partner (Louis Koo) to infiltrate and take down a Vietnamese crime syndicate being run by a trio of vengeful brothers (Lui Leung-Wai, Collin Chou and Xing Yu) thirsty for blood. (In Mandarin, Cantonese and English with subtitles)
Funny Games (R for terror, violence and some profanity) German director Michael Haneke’s English language remake of his 1997 thriller of the same name now stars Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as a couple whose vacation with their young son (Devon Gearheart) is disrupted when their lakeside summer home is invaded by a couple of sadistic psychopaths (Brady Corbet and Michael Pitt).
The Heartbeat Detector (Unrated) Thought-provoking social satire about a psychologist (Mathieu Amalric) at a petrochemical company who comes to be troubled by disturbing parallels he observes between big business tactics and those employed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. (In French with
subtitles)
My Father, My Lord (Unrated) Modern morality tale, ostensibly inspired by the Biblical parable of Abraham, revolves around a respected rabbi (Assi Ayan) in an Orthodox community who is forced by circumstances to balance the competing demands of his faith and his family. (In Hebrew with subtitles)
Sleepwalking (R for profanity and a violent scene) Dysfunctional family drama about the bond which develops between an 11 year-old girl (AnnaSophia Robb) and her uncle (Nick Stahl) after her irresponsible mother (Charlize Theron) unexpectedly skips town with her latest boyfriend.
Sputnik Mania (Unrated) Live Schreiber narrates this space race documentary about the USSR’s launch of Sputnik satellite in 1957. Archival footage features Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev along with U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower.
Towards Darkness (Unrated) Crime thriller about the son (Roberto Urbina) of a Colombian banker (Tony Plana) who ends up kidnapped for ransom when he returns home from New York for the Christmas holidays. (In Spanish and English with subtitles)
War Made Easy (Unrated) Narrated by Sean Penn, this anti-war documentary exposes the perils of America’s Military-Industrial Complex which have kept the country embroiled in military conflicts all across the planet over the past half century. With appearances via archival footage by Presidents Bush I and II, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson, and by former Secretaries of Defense Robert McNamara and Donald Rumsfeld.
Wetlands Preserved (Unrated) Flash-in-the-pan documentary laments the closing of Wetlands Preserved, a defunct SoHo nightclub which supported the environment and other social causes between 1989 and 2001 while providing a platform for an eclectic assortment of musical performers ranging from Phish to Dave Matthews to The Roots.
EUR FILM REVIEW: Never Back Down
New Karate Kid in Town Learns to 'Never Back Down'
Film Review by Kam Williams
*After her husband dies in a car accident while driving under the influence, Margot Tyler (Leslie Hope) decides to relocate from Iowa to Orlando, Florida for a fresh start with her two teenage sons.
Plus, there’s the added incentive of enrolling her younger one, Charlie (Wyatt Smith), in a tennis camp catering to promising prodigies.
Unfortunately, the grieving widow failed to factor in the toll the move might take on her elder boy, Jake (Sean Faris), a sensitive soul who has been beset by unaddressed anger management issues ever since the tragedy.
Jake is easily upset about the subject because he was sitting in the passenger seat that fateful night. So, he’s hard on himself, always agonizing over why he hadn’t intervened.
Consequently, all it takes is for some mean kid to say, “You’re dead dad was a drunk,” for him to fly into a rage the same way the Three Stooges were triggered by the words “Niagara Falls” in their classic comedy skit.
You would expect, then, that with a change of scenery he’d be able to leave all the teasing and his painful memories behind. However, in this age of the internet, a person’s past is just a Google search away. So, it isn’t long before Jake’s story reaches the ears of Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), the ringleader of a sadistic gang of ne’er-do-wells at his new school who like to fight for fighting’s sake.
Next, Ryan’s girlfriend, Baja (Amber Heard), feigns a romantic interest in Jake, seductively inviting him to a party, never letting on that he’s coming over just to take a bloody beat down. Soon after he arrives, Ryan callously plays the “Your dead dad was a drunk” card, and Jake predictably pops his cork, unaware that his opponent has a black belt in brawling.
A rescue squad arrives in the person of 98-pound weakling Max Cooperman (Evan Peters). He who peels Jake off the floor and directs him to the Combat Club, a mixed martial arts dojo run out of a rundown warehouse by Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou), a spiritually-oriented sensei from Senegal. Like a latter-day Mr. Miyagi allows the lad to enroll with the understanding, “No fighting outside of the gym, no matter what” because “people who come here for the wrong reasons never last.”
What disciplinarian Mr. Roqua doesn’t know is that Jake’s ulterior motive is to even the score with Ryan in an upcoming streetfighting tournament. He simultaneously plans to steal the heart of Baja who suddenly has second thoughts about allowing herself to be manipulated by her bully of a boyfriend.
While Never Back Down offers few surprises, at least plot-wise, for anyone already familiar with The Karate Kid (austere training regimen), Fight Club (wanton nihilism), Kung Fu (“Grasshopper”), Rocky (drinking raw
eggs) and the rest of the mano-a-mano genre, it does add several 21st Century elements to the mix (like the use of YouTube) which serve to make the familiar formula feel refreshed.
The film is grounded by another powerful performance by two-time Oscar-nominee Djimon Hounsou (In America and Blood Diamond) who again manages to elevate what might have otherwise merely been a mediocre movie by imbuing his every scene with that trademark gravitas. And the rest of the cast members are talented, too, though they tend to be at their best during the highly-stylized, state-of-the-art fight sequences.
The Karate Kid joins the Fight Club and kicks butt!
Excellent (3.5 stars) Rated PG-13 for mature themes, intense violence, profanity, teen partying and premarital sexuality.
Running time: 112 minutes
Studi Summit Entertainment
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart." — Jonathan Swift: 17-18th century: Irish essayist, novelist, and satirist
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
March 14: Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 75. Actress Tamara Tunie ("Law and Order: SVU") is 49. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald ("24") is 47.
March 15: Singer-keyboardist Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone is 65. Guitarist Howard Scott of War is 62. Singer Terence Trent D'Arby is 46.
Singer Rockwell is 44. Actress Eva Longoria Parker ("Desperate Housewives") is 33. Rapper will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas is 33. Rapper Young Buck is 27.
March 16: Actor Clifton Powell ("Ray," "Norbit") is 52. Rapper Flavor Flav is 49.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
This site serves as an independent nonpartisan resource on trends in news and African-American public opinion: www.African-AmericanOpinion.com
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Mar. 14, 1917: First training camp for "colored" officers is established by the U.S. Army in Des Moines, Iowa.
Mar. 15, 1933: Los Angeles Sentinel founded by Leon H. Washington.
Mar. 16, 1827: First black newspaper, Freedom's Journal, published in New York City. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
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