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Entertaining RSS FeedsWong resigns from Mandarin - Web Exclusive: Producer founded co. 25 years ago -- Veteran producer Raymond Wong Pak-Ming has resigned as chairman of Mandarin Entertainment, the Hong Kong film distribution and production shingle he founded some 25 years ago. The announcement, made in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Tuesday, is effective immediately. The filing states that Wong resigned "due to the restructuring of the board." Peggy Lai Pik Chi (second ref: Lai) has assumed chairmanship of the company. Last month Wong slashed his personal shareholding in Mandarin, cutting his stake from 19% to 10.5% (Variety, Dec 30, 2008.) The shares were sold to two apparently unrelated Chinese businessmen Lu Zi Ding (second ref: Lu) and Mai Xu Ming (second ref: Mai). Wong remains an executive director of the company. Mandarin Film's recent production "Ip Man," on which Wong personally served as producer, has done serious business at the local box office, grossing $2.8 million in three weeks of release in Hong Kong. ...Feed Source: feeds.feedburner.com Kelsey Grammer to star in ABC pilot - TV News: Tucker Cawley writing comedy for network -- Kelsey Grammer is taking another stab at a sitcom.
... Richard Lorber launches Alive Mind - Home Ent News: Production co. to focus on documentaries -- Richard Lorber, who formerly headed specialty distribs Fox Lorber and Wellspring, has launched a company called Alive Mind.
... Mickey Rourke joins 'Expendables' - Gotham: Actor added to cast of Stallone's action film -- Mickey Rourke has joined the ranks of "The Expendables," joining the ensemble of the Sylvester Stallone-directed action adventure for Nu Image/Millennium Films.
... SAG delays cable deal bargaining - Labor Issues: Members advised to continue working -- The Screen Actors Guild has quietly delayed bargaining on its basic cable pact -- which expired three weeks ago.
... NASA embarks on 3-D movie mission - Exclusives: Shatner, Pine lend voices to 'Quantum Quest' -- "Quantum Quest," the independently financed 3-D animated film being made in conjunction with NASA, has assembled its voice cast, which will include a pair of Captain Kirks and a pair of Darth Vaders.
... Sony Pictures TV ups Adilman, Hall - Exclusives: Duo named exec VPs of comedy, drama -- Sony Pictures TV has bumped up its comedy and drama lieutenants.
... 'Police' in arrested development - TV News: John Wells show locks up NBC, WBTV -- NBC and Warner Bros. TV remain locked in negotiations over the new John Wells drama "Police."
... McG to direct Disney's 'Nemo' - Front Page: '20,000 Leagues' being fast tracked by studio -- Disney has set McG to direct "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo," a family film that is being fast tracked by the studio.
... ABC fields 'Superstars' - Exclusives: Network gives six-episode order to series -- ABC has given a six-episode order to a new celeb take on the sports-themed franchise "Superstars."
... Music organizations climb Hill - Music News: RAC to be folded into Recording Academy -- The Recording Artists' Coalition, founded eight years ago by Don Henley and Sheryl Crow, will be folded into the Recording Academy and become an integral part of the org's Grammy on the Hill initiative.
... Treasure Quest - TV Reviews: The narration makes clear what this 11-part Discovery Channel series wants to be: An adventurous romp with "a dream team that tracks unsolved mysteries of the deep ocean." But the opener to "Treasure Quest" is most likely to inspire deep sleep, following the for-profit Odyssey Marine Exploration gang as they seek to unearth sunken treasure using state-of-the-art equipment, including a robot sub named ZEUS. According to the show, unspecified "critics" have derided the Odyssey crew as "careless treasure hunters." To this critic, they're simply boring ballast.
... Univision, Televisa case gets jurors - Web Exclusive: Telenovelas at stake in legal dispute -- The jury that will decide the fate of two multibillion-dollar Hispanic media congloms was selected Tuesday at Los Angeles U.S. district court in downtown Los Angeles.
... T.I.C. Trenchcoat in Common - Legit Reviews: This less concise "blog turned into a play" -- a subtitle that raises the first red flag -- is too cartoonish and inorganically conceived to cohere.
... Olga San Juan dies at 81 - Obituary: Actress, singer, comic starred opposite Astaire -- Actress, singer, dancer and comic Olga San Juan died Jan. 4 after a long illness. She was 81.
... 'Frozen' heats up Asia box office - Web Exclusive: 'Flower,' 'Bedtime' top first weekend of 2009 -- With the exceptions of Japan and India, Asia's first box office weekend of 2009 was dominated by two new releases -- sexy Korean drama "Frozen Flower" and Disney family comedy "Bedtime Stories."
... Oscar unveils makeup contenders - Oscar News: Seven films in the running for Academy Award -- Seven pics are in contention for the 2008 Oscar for makeup: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," "The Reader," "Synecdoche, New York," "Tropic Thunder" and "The Wrestler."
... Polanski to return to Los Angeles? - Inside Moves: Debate continues over misconduct charges -- Does Roman Polanski have to return to L.A. in order to get 32-year-old sexual misconduct charges dismissed? L.A. County's D.A. office says he does, but his attorneys don't agree.
... Gupta may make White House call - H'w'd and D.C.: Obama also eyes Richard Parsons -- Barack Obama is eyeing CNN's telegenic medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the next surgeon general.
... Barack Obama kickoff to HBO - TV News: Network will air opening inaugural ceremonies -- HBO will televise Barack Obama's inaugural kickoff ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18, in what is being billed as a star-studded event with top performers from music and entertainment.
... As God Commands (Come Dio comanda) - Film Reviews: Unlikely to duplicate the success of international hit "I'm Not Scared," Gabriele Salvatores' stylish father-son drama "As God Commands," with its decidedly American indie feel, impresses with unsparing visuals, an uneven script notwithstanding.
... UTA makes Jeremy Barber partner - Tenpercenteries: Film agent reps Cheadle, Coogan, Morgan -- UTA has promoted film agent Jeremy Barber to become the percentery's 19th partner.
... Jack Lechner inks production pact - TV News: Producer signs deal with Washington Square -- Jack Lechner has inked a first-look deal with Washington Square Arts & Films.
... 24 - TV Reviews: After a subpar "day" followed by a strike-fueled hiatus, "24" gets solidly back to basics -- if by "basics" that means high-tech terrorist threats, shadowy government conspiracies, steely (and demographically historic) presidents facing terrible moral quandaries, the welcome return of familiar faces, and even rumination on the ethics of torture.
... United States of Tara - TV Reviews: Despite the boldfaced names behind the scenes -- Steven Spielberg! Diablo Cody! -- it's the woman at its center who ensures "United States of Tara" is more than a gimmick with a cutesy name.
... Seven Pounds - Film Reviews: "Seven Pounds" is an endlessly sentimental fable about sacrifice and redemption that aims only at the heart at the expense of the head.
... The Tale of Despereaux - Film Reviews: Kate DiCamillo's delectable novel about rodents, royals and the restorative properties of soup gets the star-laden, CG-animated bigscreen treatment in "The Tale of Despereaux."
... Cadillac Records - Film Reviews: Approaching the blues with the enthusiasm of an overcaffeinated brass band, helmer Darnell Martin nonetheless makes some kind of music with the percolating '50s biopic "Cadillac Records" -- mostly because she mines a righteous, mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues.
... The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Film Reviews: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" represents a richly satisfying serving of deep-dish Hollywood storytelling. This odd, epic tale of a man who ages backwards is presented in an impeccable classical manner, every detail tended to with fastidious devotion.
... Bolt - Film Reviews: An "Incredible Journey" or "Homeward Bound" updated for the superhero era, "Bolt" is an OK Disney animated entry enhanced by nifty 3-D projection. The first inhouse feature from Disney Animation since Pixar guru John Lasseter took over the studio's creative reins, this tale of a canine forced to overcome his superdog complex and learn to become a regular pooch bears some telltale signs of Pixar's trademark smarts, but still looks like a mutt compared to the younger company's customary purebreds. While punchy enough to keep parents amused, pic will probably play best to small fry and, especially with Disney star Miley Cyrus onboard, will have no trouble chasing down hefty biz through the holidays.
... Last Chance Harvey - Film Reviews: There's never a doubt that the losers-at-love of British writer-director Joel Hopkins' "Last Chance Harvey" are on intersecting arcs, that they'll meet cute and stroll off into a sooty London sunset. But stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are so disarmingly charming that even the most treacly moments work an emotional magic.
... Frost/Nixon - Film Reviews: "Frost/Nixon" is an effective, straightforward bigscreen version of Peter Morgan's shrewd stage drama about the historic 1977 TV interview in which Richard Nixon brought himself down once again.
... City of Ember - Film Reviews: A fabulously designed underground metropolis proves more involving than the teenagers running through its streets in "City of Ember," a good-looking but no more than serviceable adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel.
... W. - Film Reviews: Oliver Stone?s unusual and inescapably interesting ?W.? feels like a rough draft of a film it might behoove him to remake in 10 or 15 years.
... Painted Skin (Hua pi) - Film Reviews: Dubiously billing itself as "the first Eastern supernatural movie from China" -- what about "The Promise," for starters? -- costumer "Painted Skin" weighs in as an off-the-shelf drama-actioner that would have seemed much better 20 years ago. Assembled by a largely Hong Kong tech crew, but starring mostly Mainland thesps, yarn about a mysterious femme who's actually a flesh-eating fox-devil is the third and weakest pic version of the famous classical short story in the past 40 years. Opening across East Asia in late September, film scored good opening numbers in China but likely will be an ancillary item in Western markets.
... Body of Lies - Film Reviews: Neither the location-based verisimilitude of Ridley Scott's shooting style nor the estimable Middle East expertise of source-material author David Ignatius can disguise "Body of Lies" as anything other than the contrived phony-baloney it is.
... The Baader Meinhof Complex
(Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) - Film Reviews: An explosive performance by Johanna Wokalek gives some relief to an otherwise long and humdrum series of characters, blow-'em-ups and prison locations in German terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex."
... Last Stop 174 - Film Reviews: Bruno Barreto?s "Last Stop 174" goes through the motions of depicting a deeply troubled and bereft life but adds little new to the many bigscreen portrayals of poverty and desperation at the bottom of Brazil?s society.
... Zift - Film Reviews: A widescreen black-and-white genre thrill ride navigating a stylized 1960s Sofia underworld, "Zift," from Bulgarian theater vet and first-time helmer Javor Gardev, stakes out a style somewhere between Aki Kaurismaki and Guy Ritchie, making it work through sheer chutzpah. This is an instant midnight fest fave that could see limited specialized action before finding true cult status on homevid.
... Appaloosa - Film Reviews: ?Appaloosa? is a decent Western made in an era when a Western has to be pretty darn good to rope people into a theater to see it.
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