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| Genre-bending, 'unexpected' films top Sundance 2014 lineup Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 07:12 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Genre-bending films dominated the 2014 lineup announced on Wednesday for the U.S. feature film competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the top U.S. festival for independent cinema. A lot of them were unexpected," John Cooper, director of the Sundance film festival, told Reuters. "'Life After Beth' is a really innovative approach of using some of the conventions of a zombie film but putting it in an indie young love story," said Trevor Groth, the director of programming for the film festival started by actor and director Robert Redford in 1978. Full Story | Top |
| Norman Rockwell work sets auction record for American painting Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 03:08 PM PST Norman Rockwell's "Saying Grace" sold on Wednesday for more than $46 million, double its high pre-sale estimate, setting a new auction record for an American painting, Sotheby's said. The previous auction record for an American painting was for "Polo Crowd" by George Bellows, which sold for $27.7 million in 1999. "This is just a wonderful result for American art and for Rockwell," Elizabeth Goldberg, the head of Sotheby's American Art department, said in an interview. Francis Bacon's 1969 triptych, "Three Studies of Lucian Freud," fetched $142.4 million last month in New York to become the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Full Story | Top |
| A drop in the bucket? Christie's appraises Detroit's art Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 02:33 PM PST  By Joseph Lichterman DETROIT (Reuters) - The auction house Christie's put a price tag on one of Detroit's highest-profile city assets, its share of the Detroit Institute of Arts collection, stating that nearly 3,000 works controlled by the city are worth between $452 million and $866 million. The finding by Christie's, hired to place a value on art treasures that could become a contested element of the Detroit bankruptcy, puts a range of value on 2,781 works owned or partially owned by the city. The holdings represent only about 5 percent of the DIA's full collection, but with the finding Tuesday that Detroit is bankrupt under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, it is possible the city may seek to monetize some of the artwork. Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr retained Christie's in August to appraise city-owned works as part of Detroit's bankruptcy case. Full Story | Top |
| 'Stay classy, Boston' - college briefly renamed for Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 02:28 PM PST  By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Actor Will Ferrell, in character as bumbling fictional television news anchorman Ron Burgundy, advised viewers to believe 71 percent of what they see on news programs and complained that too few journalists have facial hair in a Wednesday appearance at a Boston college. Ferrell's mustachioed, burgundy-suited character also misidentified one of the deans of Emerson College as former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth. "It was only a short while ago I was covering your lunar orbit of the moon," the character said to Phil Glenn, interim dean of the school's college of communications. The college agreed to rename itself "Ron Burgundy School of Communication" for the day in an event promoting the movie "Anchorman 2," which premieres later this month with Ferrell in a starring role. Full Story | Top |
| Actor Walker died from multiple injuries in crash, 'Fast 7' filming halted Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 02:25 PM PST  By Eric Kelsey and Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker died from multiple injuries in a weekend car crash, the Los Angeles County coroner said on Wednesday, as Universal Pictures suspended production of the seventh installment in its lucrative car racing film franchise. Walker, 40, was a passenger in a fiery one-car crash on Saturday in Santa Clarita, California, about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles, that also killed 38-year-old driver Roger Rodas. The coroner said Walker's death resulted from "traumatic and thermal injuries." While the coroner did not elaborate, thermal injuries are heat-related and are commonly burns. Full Story | Top |
| 'Her' wins National Board of Review best 2013 film award Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 02:01 PM PST  By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Her," a story about a man who falls in love with a computer operating system, on Wednesday won the National Board of Review award for 2013 best film of the year and best director, the second major film awards in the run-up to the Oscars. Director Spike Jonze's "Her," which will be released in selected U.S. theaters later this month, stars Joaquin Phoenix as a withdrawn writer in Los Angeles in the quirky love story. "Spike Jonze is one of the most talented and visionary filmmakers working today," said Annie Schulhof, the president of the National Board of Review, a 100-year-old U.S. based group of movie industry watchers and film professionals. Bruce Dern was named best actor for his portrayal as an ornery old man convinced he has won a fortune in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska," and Emma Thompson picked up the best actress accolade for her turn as author P.L. Travers, the creator of "Mary Poppins," in "Saving Mr. Banks." Comedic actor Will Forte, best known for his roles on the television sketch show "Saturday Night Live," won the best supporting actor prize for playing Dern's patient son in "Nebraska." Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer was named best supporting actress for "Fruitvale Station," about the real-life story of a young black man shot to death by a white transit policeman. Full Story | Top |
| Boy band One Direction makes chart history with third No. 1 album debut Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 01:29 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British boy band One Direction made chart history on Wednesday as its third album debuted at No. 1 on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, the only group to have its first three albums top the chart in opening week sales. The group's first album, "Up All Night" and second record "Take Me Home," both released in 2012, also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, but with smaller opening week sales. One Direction, comprised of singers Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan, was formed on the U.K. reality singing television show "The X Factor" in 2010 and has gone on to conquer the United States with songs such as "What Makes You Beautiful" and "Story of My Life." The band's music is targeted at a young audience, and its fans are mainly teenage girls, dubbed "Directioners." The group has more than 16 million Twitter followers and 22 million Facebook fans. Full Story | Top |
| TV host Martin Bashir resigns over offensive remarks Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 01:27 PM PST (Reuters) - Television host Martin Bashir resigned from the U.S. cable news network MSNBC on Wednesday after making controversial remarks about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. "Upon further reflection, and after meeting with the president of MSNBC, I have tendered my resignation," Bashir wrote in a memo obtained by Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Much of American silent film heritage lost, Library of Congress says Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 11:20 AM PST By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly three-quarters of America's feature-length silent films have been lost, and the legacy that put Hollywood at the forefront of the movie industry from 1912 to 1929 is endangered, the Library of Congress said Wednesday. The first comprehensive study of American feature-length films of the silent era unveiled by the Library of Congress paints a distressing picture. Seventy percent of silent feature-length films have been lost. Classics films such as 1926's "The Great Gatsby," the 1917 version of "Cleopatra" and actor Lon Chaney's 1927 "London After Midnight" are among movies considered lost in their complete form. Full Story | Top |
| TV's 'Domestic Goddess' Nigella tells UK court she took cocaine Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 11:07 AM PST  By Alexander Winning LONDON (Reuters) - Celebrity cook Nigella Lawson told a court she had taken cocaine several times including when being subjected to "intimate terrorism" by her millionaire ex-husband Charles Saatchi, in the latest dramatic twist in a trial that has gripped Britain. "I can only laugh at your sorry depravity," he said in the email, which was read in court. Full Story | Top |
| Dish, smaller carriers plan bids for H block spectrum auction Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 11:03 AM PST  Dish Network Corp will compete against smaller wireless carriers and individual investors in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction of spectrum scheduled for January, the agency revealed on Wednesday. On January 22, the FCC will auction off the so-called H Block frequencies in the first opportunity that the FCC has had for companies to acquire new spectrum since 2008. Dish, which applied as American H Block Wireless LLC, is the most formidable of the 34 applicants who indicated an interest in bidding for control of airwaves in some geographic areas, according to new FCC documents. Other applicants, who may or may not actually bid for wireless licenses in the auction, included Mississippi-based C Spire, other regional and rural providers and several individual investors, the documents showed. Full Story | Top |
| Putin could free Khodorkovsky, Pussy Riot in amnesty: rights adviser Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 10:37 AM PST  By Alexei Anishchuk NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin could free a former oil tycoon and members of the Pussy Riot band, all portrayed as political prisoners by domestic and foreign critics, under an amnesty expected by the end of the year, according to a Kremlin human rights adviser. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who supporters say was jailed to curb a political challenge to Putin, putting his oil assets in state hands, and two Pussy Riot inmates are due for release next year. But an early discharge could help improve Putin's image before he hosts the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in February. Putin told his presidential human rights council in September to make suggestions for an amnesty to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution in December. Full Story | Top |
| Universal halts 'Fast & Furious 7' production to assess options Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 10:16 AM PST  Universal Pictures has shut down production of action sequel "Fast & Furious 7" to consider its options for the franchise following the death of actor Paul Walker, the studio said on Wednesday. "At this time we feel it is our responsibility to shut down production on 'Fast & Furious 7' for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise," Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Miami adds new art museum, sign of evolution beyond the beach Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 08:57 AM PST  By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A gleaming addition to Miami's waterfront will greet the art world elite as they jet into town this week for the 12th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach: a $131 million art museum the city hopes will anchor its burgeoning cultural scene. "Our cultural infrastructure has evolved," said Thom Collins, director of the Perez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM), which will open officially on Wednesday. We needed to give them something that addresses our main competition, the beach." From sprawling, shaded verandas dotted with greenery, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed waterfront museum offers stunning vistas of Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami's high rises. CULTURAL RENAISSANCE Since the first Art Basel Miami Beach, a spinoff of the fair held for decades in the Swiss city of the same name, Miami has undergone a cultural renaissance. Full Story | Top |
| Young, Plant and friends pay tribute to "Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar" Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 08:53 AM PST  A host of musicians headed by Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on Tuesday night celebrated the life and work of Bert Jansch, the late Scottish guitarist who influenced generations of players from Neil Young to Johnny Marr with his stew of blues, folk and jazz. On a London stage decorated to look like Les Cousins, the Soho folk club where Jansch held court in the 1960s, they played his songs and others that had inspired him, and reminisced about "a magical man, an occasionally shambolic man," in the words of Martin Simpson. If he never achieved huge popular fame to match his talent, his standing amongst his peers was evident in a Royal Festival Hall line-up that was a virtual Who's Who of British folk, among them Ralph McTell, Donovan and members of Pentangle, the folk-jazz group with whom he found his greatest commercial success. Neil Young, who once described Jansch as the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar, was not present in body but appeared on a large screen in a specially-recorded video in which he played "Needle of Death", Jansch's tale of heroin addiction that Young has acknowledged as the inspiration for his own classic "Needle and the Damage Done". Full Story | Top |
| New York critics name 'American Hustle' best film of year Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 07:34 AM PST  By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Film Critics Circle named "American Hustle," a film about 1970s con artists forced to work with the FBI, as best film of 2013 on Tuesday and gave its top acting prizes to Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett in the first major movie honors in the run-up to the Oscars. British director Steve McQueen won the best director prize for "12 Years a Slave," the historical drama about a free black man sold into slavery and based on the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup. Tuesday's awards pit director David O. Russell's "American Hustle," which will be released in U.S. theaters later this month, and "12 Year a Slave," the winner of the top prize at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, as early contenders in the race for the Academy Awards. Redford picked up the best actor award for his solo performance in the survival drama "All is Lost," and Blanchett was named best actress for her portrayal of a pill-popping former socialite forced to deal with reduced circumstances in Woody Allen's film "Blue Jasmine." Actor Jared Leto won the best supporting actor prize for his role in "Dallas Buyers Club" as an HIV-positive transgender woman who helps smuggle medication not approved in the United States to AIDS patients. Full Story | Top |
| Russian dancer gets six years for Bolshoi acid attack Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 07:29 AM PST  By Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko was sentenced to six years in a high-security prison on Tuesday for ordering an acid attack that nearly blinded the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and tarnished the reputation of the renowned theatre. A judge announced the sentence after convicting Dmitrichenko and two co-defendants of the attack on Sergei Filin last January, which exposed poisonous rivalries over roles, money and power at one of Russia's most prominent cultural institutions. Yuri Zarutsky, who admitted to being the masked attacker who threw acid in Filin's face in January, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Andrei Lipatov, who drove Zarutsky to the scene, was sentenced to four years. Full Story | Top |
| A Minute With: Penelope Cruz on not playing it safe on set Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 07:21 AM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - Penelope Cruz plays a barren wife in one of her new movies and a doomed fiancée in another, but her own family life is strictly off limits. The 39-year-old Spanish mother of two has played the dark-haired beauty for directors Pedro Almodovar and Woody Allen, toyed around with Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" and engaged in intimate scenes with Michael Fassbender as his fiancée in this year's Cormac McCarthy-scripted "The Counselor." Apologizing profusely, Cruz delayed an interview at a London pub focusing on her other new movie, "Twice Born", which opens in the United States this month, for a half hour so she could rush home to feed her infant daughter. Later, when asked how she and husband Javier Bardem share childminding chores, she said: "I don't talk about them, in interviews, my kids. Based on a book by Italian author Margaret Mazzantini that Cruz says she loved, the film portrays a love affair between a daredevil American photographer, Diego, and Cruz's academic researcher set at the time of the 1990s Bosnia war. Full Story | Top |
| Disney in China digital entertainment venture with BesTV Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013 04:53 AM PST  (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co and BesTV New Media are to form a digital joint venture in China as the U.S. company aims for a share of the country's fast-growing entertainment business. The venture, which will have a registered capital of $4 million, will be 51 percent-owned by China's BesTV, with Disney's unit TWDC Shanghai Enterprises LLC taking the rest, the companies said in separate statements. China's entertainment and media market is expected to grow to $148 billion by 2015 from around $120 billion in 2013, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' outlook for the global entertainment and media business 2011-2015. Full Story | Top |
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