Entertaining Posts

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Prosecutor: Jackson "paid with his life" for Dr's actions

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 3, 2011 2:12pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson "paid with his life" for the criminal negligence of his personal doctor that also left the pop singer's three children without a father, prosecutors told a Los Angeles jury on Thursday.

In emotional closing arguments after a six week trial, prosecutor David Walgren said that Dr. Conrad Murray had violated the trust between doctor and patient and that his actions had caused the death in 2009 of the "Thriller" singer.

"The evidence in this case is abundantly clear -- that Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence, that Conrad Murray caused the death of Michael Jackson, that Conrad Murray left Prince, Paris and Blanket without a father," Walgren told the jury.

Murray, who was hired to care for Jackson as he prepared for a series of planned comeback concerts, denies involuntary manslaughter but did not testify at the trial.

Walgren argued that Murray had breached his ethical and legal duty as a doctor by giving Jackson the powerful anesthetic propofol at his home as a sleep aid.

"Michael Jackson paid with his life" for Murray's negligence, Walgren said as the singer's parents Joe and Katherine, both dressed in black, listened in the courtroom.

Jackson was found lifeless at his Los Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009, age 50. He was later ruled to have died from an overdose of propofol, which is normally used in surgery, and sedatives.

Murray has admitted giving Jackson a small dose of propofol. But his attorneys have argued in the trial that Jackson was addicted to the drug and caused his own death -- probably by swallowing a handful of sedatives and giving himself an extra fatal dose without his doctor's knowledge.

The defense is expected to present its own closing arguments on Thursday before the case is handed to the jury.

Trial judge Michael Pastor told the jury on Thursday they could convict Murray even if Jackson may have contributed to his own death, if they believed the physician failed to use reasonable care to prevent that outcome.

But Pastor said the jury could find Murray not guilty if they believed his actions on the day of Jackson's death were accidental.

Murray could face up to four years in prison if convicted.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Westerns saddle up for TV comeback

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 3, 2011 8:33am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The TV Western is saddling up for a big comeback, and actor Anson Mount couldn't be happier.

Mount, 38, plays a rugged post-Civil War soldier with revenge on his mind in the new series "Hell on Wheels", making its debut on cable channel AMC on Sunday and heralding a revival of a genre that dominated U.S. television in the 1950s and '60s.

"Hell on Wheels" is set during the building of the Union Pacific railroad in the 19th Century, and comes complete with vast rolling plains, trigger-happy lawmen and scalping Native Americans.

For Mount, it's a role born of childhood dreams in his native Tennessee, when he said he began playing cowboys and Indians at the age of six.

"I would climb this sort of half blown-over tree in my backyard, and I had a cowboy hat and a sheriff's badge and a little plastic six-shooter around my hip," Mount recalled.

Filming "Hell on Wheels", he said, "I spend a day on a horse out in the sun getting to shoot a grizzly. I can't believe I'm not having to pay them to do this. It's amazing."

Hip-hop artist and actor Common, who plays a recently freed mixed-race slave working on the railroad, agreed. "It's fun to be in the mud and running around with guns. Learning to ride a horse. It's a great time," he told reporters.

Gunsmoke and wagons aside, "Hell on Wheels" also casts an unsentimental eye on a key turning point in the forging of the United States, the ravaging of Native American land and the price of progress.

"We want to tell a story about civilization vs. untouched nature. The imposing of civilization can be absolutely brutal," said co-executive producer Joe Gayton.

"I'm amazed by the tenacity, the boldness and the sheer courage of what people did in order to complete the task at hand. There was death around every corner but they continued on," Gayton said.

GRAY HATS

Unlike classic Hollywood Westerns where the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys black, the characters in "Hell on Wheels" -- including a bevy of prostitutes -- are more gray.

"Our characters are complex, jumbled. They've all got good in them. They've all got a lot of bad in them. Anson's character, Cullen Bohannon, is driven first by revenge, but he's also an ex-slave owner," said executive producer Tony Gayton.

"Hell on Wheels" leads a stampede of Westerns coming up or in development in the next two years, although the numbers are unlikely to match the more than 25 prime-time TV Westerns when the genre was at its height in 1959.

NBC has ordered up two scripts -- one involving a Western story told from a female point of view -- while A&E has a Western-themed crime thriller in the works that is set in Montana called "Longmire."

ABC has a project called "Gunslinger" in development for 2012, as well as a series titled "Hangtown" that is described as a combination of a crime drama and a traditional Western.

Even Disney Channel is in on the act, starting production on an animated series starring a kitty cat sheriff that is billed as the first Western for pre-schoolers. The Disney Junior series, "Oki's Oasis" is expected to air in 2013.

Irish actor Colm Meaney, who plays a greedy entrepreneur in "Hell on Wheels," said that like sci-fi shows set in the future, returning to the past can cast light on the present.

"There's a huge amount of social issues than can be addressed in this way that are still hugely relevant today. So by going back or forward, you can give yourself a much bigger canvas than just doing a contemporary show," Meaney said.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

James Bond aims to bounce back with new film launch

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Thu Nov 3, 2011 3:21am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond returns Thursday with the launch of the 23rd installment in the famous film franchise, and aims to bounce back after a studio bankruptcy put production on hold for months and the last movie earned mixed reviews.

As ever ahead of a major Bond announcement, unconfirmed rumors have been flying across cyberspace.

What can be said with certainty is that Daniel Craig returns for his third outing as the suave secret agent, and Sam Mendes, Oscar winner with "American Beauty" who worked with Craig on "Road to Perdition," will direct.

Spanish actor Javier Bardem and Britain's Ralph Fiennes are expected to join the cast, and Judi Dench is set to return as Bond's stern boss "M."

Other stars reported to be involved include Albert Finney, who would be making his first Bond appearance aged 75, and Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny.

Locations and plotline are largely unknown to the outside world, although some media have said scenes shot on a train in India are likely to feature.

A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures declined to give details about Thursday's event beyond what appeared on a press invitation -- that producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli would present Mendes and "key" cast members.

Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, will distribute the film, which is set to hit British theatres on October 26, 2012 and U.S. cinemas on November 9.

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the series, which began in 1962 with Sean Connery on Her Majesty's secret service in "Dr. No."

Debt-laden Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, known for its roaring lion logo and behind some of Hollywood's most fabled films including "The Wizard of Oz," filed for bankruptcy in November last year.

Two months later it confirmed Bond 23 would hit theatres in November, 2012, and in April MGM and Sony announced they would co-finance and distribute the next two Bond movies.

The studios previously partnered on "Quantum of Solace" and Craig's 2006 Bond debut "Casino Royale."

The high-octane, action-heavy films are expensive to make and market, with Quantum of Solace estimated to have cost around $200 million.

But they have a good record commercially, and according to movie tracking website boxofficemojo.com, Casino Royale earned $594 million in global ticket sales and Quantum of Solace $586 million.

Craig's first appearance as Bond was hailed as a refreshing change in direction toward a tougher, more serious 007, and reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Quantum of Solace fared less well with the critics, although positive reviews still outweighed the negative.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Judge orders 30 days in jail for Lindsay Lohan

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 2, 2011 2:07pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge on Wednesday ordered Lindsay Lohan returned to jail for 30 days for violating probation and put the troubled actress on a strict calendar of community service and psychological counseling.

The "Mean Girls" actress must report to jail on November 9, according to the order from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, and will not be eligible for house arrest or early release.

After that, she must begin a five-month regimen of community service at the Los Angeles county morgue as well as regularly attend mental health counseling.

Lohan, 25, dressed demurely in a blue-and-white polka dot dress and answered "yes" to the judge's questions on whether she understood the sentence. At various times she appeared on the verge of tears.

Lohan rose to fame as a likable child star of Disney movies such as "The Parent Trap," but has been in and out of trouble -- spending time in rehab and in jail -- since 2007 when she was convicted on a drunken driving and drug possession charges.

Earlier this year, she was convicted of stealing a gold necklace from a jewelry story. At that time, the judge sentenced her to 480 hours community service at a Los Angeles women's detention center and at the county morgue.

Two weeks ago, Judge Sautner revoked her probation because Lohan failed to adequately perform the service at the women's center and repeatedly missed court-ordered psychotherapy sessions.

In court on Wednesday, prosecutors said Lohan had canceled 12 of her 20 scheduled sessions at the women's center and missed 14 of 19 scheduled psychotherapy appointments.

Judge Sautner asked Lohan if she admitted to violating her probation by missing the appointments, and the actress answered "yes, your honor."

The judge then reinstated probation and changed Lohan's sentence to a total 300 days in jail. She ordered Lohan to spend the 30 days behind bars now.

The judge sternly laid out a schedule of morgue service and psychotherapy. If all goes according to plan, Lohan would end her probation by March 29, 2012.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

CBS wins Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction ruling

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.