Entertaining Posts

Friday, January 21, 2011

MSNBC and anchor Keith Olbermann abruptly part ways

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES | Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:31pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. cable news television network MSNBC and its top anchor, Keith Olbermann, abruptly parted ways on Friday, less than three months after the liberal broadcaster was suspended for campaign donations to Democrats.

Olbermann, who had two years left on his contract, signed off for the last time on his "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" political affairs program on Friday night.

"This is the last edition of "Countdown," Olbermann said on the program, which drew over 1 million viewers a night.

"MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract," the network said in a statement. Neither Olbermann nor MSNBC gave a reason for the move.

His departure came just over two months after MSNBC briefly suspended Olbermann for giving money to three Democratic politicians during the congressional election campaign, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was coincidentally shot and wounded in an assassination attempt on January 8 in Tucson, Arizona.

"MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network statement said.

Olbermann, whose talks with MSNBC management about his future at the company had been going on for some time, seemed to suggest during his signoff that the decision to leave MSNBC had not been entirely his own.

"I think the same fantasy popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I have been told, this will be the last edition of your show," he said.

He then mentioned the 1976 movie "Network," where a news anchor declares, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" and persuades viewers to yell out their windows.

Olbermann's program helped define MSNBC as a liberal voice in cable television and a counterpoint to Fox News' largely conservative bent. MSNBC is now second in cable news ratings behind Fox News and ahead of CNN.

The outspoken former sportscaster with ESPN went to work for MSNBC in 2003. He had the highest-rated host on MSNBC. The New York Times said he signed a $30 million four-year contract extension in 2008.

Olbermann would often take aim at conservative politicians and commentators, in a segment he called "The Worst Person in the World." His targets included rival commentator Bill O'Reilly from Fox News and New York 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino.

MSNBC is a network in transition. Comcast Corp earlier this week won approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Justice Department for its combination with NBC Universal, the company behind MSNBC.

Once the deal closes, Comcast will acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co.

Jeremy Gaines, a spokesman for MSNBC, said Comcast had nothing to do with Olbermann's departure.

Oprah Winfrey to reveal "family secret"

Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:17pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Oprah Winfrey will be giving her daytime talk show fans something to talk about next week.

She is staging a family reunion on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Monday and said she plans to reveal something she's recently learned that only a few people close to her know.

"I thought I'd seen it all. But this, my friends, is the miracle of all miracles," Winfrey said in a promotional clip.

"I was given some news that literally shook me to my core. This time, I'm the one being reunited. I was keeping a family secret for months, and on Monday you're going to hear it straight from me," she added.

Her production company, Harpo, declined to provide further details on Friday.

Winfrey was born to unwed teens and was raised at various times by her grandmother, mother and father and stepmother in Mississippi, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

She got pregnant at age 14, but her baby died a short time later. Earlier this week on Piers Morgan's CNN show, she said she wouldn't be where she is today if she had had the baby.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Sundance debuts with Harry Belafonte documentary

By Bob Tourtellotte

PARK CITY, Utah | Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:17pm EST

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - The Sundance Film Festival opened on Thursday night with a new look -- four feature films instead of only one, including a documentary about calypso singer Harry Belafonte and a teen lesbian drama.

The documentary, "Sing Your Song," follows the social activism of the 83-year-old singer of "Banana Boat Song" and "Scarlet Ribbons." Belafonte has been at the vanguard of the U.S. civil rights movement, anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa and ending gang violence on the streets of Los Angeles.

Sundance founder Robert Redford called Belafonte's tale "a story about a man whose story should be told for generations to come," and the documentary earned a standing ovation.

The other screenings included: "Pariah," the tale of a young black lesbian who yearns to come out of the closet; "The Guard," an Irish buddy-cop comedy starring Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson; and "Project Nim," a British documentary about a chimpanzee raised as a human being in an ethically questionable experiment.

The annual showcase for independent movies runs through January 30, and takes place as bold discoveries from last year's event, including "The Kids Are All Right" and "Winter's Bone," vie for attention during Hollywood's awards season.

Sundance chief programer John Cooper, in his second year at the helm, told Reuters that this year's selection of some 115 feature films reflects a desire among directors to look reality squarely in the face and build stories around how they fit into that world.

"They are sticking more to the truth within themselves and the stories they have to tell," Cooper said.

"There are several films dealing with religion, faith and redemption, and we kind of can't help but think it has something to do with the world we are living in."

BUZZ AND BUSINESS

Coming into the festival there are, as always, movies generating industry buzz, including "Little Birds," about two teenage girls (portrayed by Juno Temple and Kay Panabaker) learning about life and love, and "The Ledge" in which two men are forced to examine their lives.

Numerous stars will again turn out on the snowy streets of Park City, a ski resort east of Salt Lake City. Oprah Winfrey is expected to promote documentaries on her new OWN TV network.

Money will be on the minds of distributors and financiers looking to scoop up the next "The Kids Are All Right", paying small for a big box office hit. After about three tough years, experts say business is looking up, if conducted sensibly.

The good news is that digital downloading and streaming of movies from websites like iTunes or Netflix has opened up new avenues to reach audiences and new ways to make money. The bad news is that making sizable profits from new distribution remains five or more years away, the experts added.

That means traditional revenues from box office, DVDs and TV pay-per-view are still the key ways to make money. For a few indie films, box office is buoyant, but DVD and TV revenues are soft. That dynamic has market players hopeful, but wary.

"This year, you'll see a large amount of (movies) make their way into the marketplace, but in terms of making your money back, it depends on what you spend," said Tom Bernard, co-head of indie distributor Sony Pictures Classics.

Elizabeth Redleaf, whose relatively new production company Werc Werk Works is screening its heist movie "The Convincer" here, put it another way. "People, I think, are much more conscious of their money."

(Editing by Mike Collett-White)

After a long hiatus, Peter Weir finds "The Way Back"

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES | Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:31am EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian director Peter Weir is back in U.S. movie theaters on Friday with his first film in seven years -- the drama "The Way Back."

Inspired by Slavomir Rawicz' 1956 book "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom," the film is about prisoners who escape from a Siberian labor camp and walk through Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, China and India, to find freedom.

Weir, who has directed such films as "The Truman Show," "Dead Poets Society" and "Witness", sat down with Reuters to talk about the film and why he's been laying low for the past few years.

Q: You are known for taking your time between projects. For the past two decades, you've only done five films. What made "The Way Back" worthy of your attention?

A: "I think it was the nature of the journey, to walk 4,000 miles to freedom. These were innocent people, ordinary people. It was a chance to look closely at the human spirit. What kind of qualities does an individual have which will draw them to push on, to put one foot in front of the other? That, coupled with the fantastic series of landscapes."

Q: You've assembled quite an international cast to play Eastern Europeans, including Irish actors Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan, and Britain's Jim Sturgess.

A: "There's always a temptation to cast the nationality in the part, but that gets impractical. Plus there's certain people you want to work with. And after all, this is show business -- the actors are pretending. I didn't want the group to be all American, or all English who are doing accents. I wanted to get a representation of nationalities."

Q: Prior to this film, what have you been doing since "Master and Commander?"

A: "There were three other projects I was working on but they didn't happen. I pulled out of one and we disagreed over something on the other. It was a frustrating period. I had to find a kind of patience so that I didn't panic and take on a movie that wasn't right for me."

Q: Then what happened?

A: "Then I read 'The Way Back' and thought, maybe it's this one. I would go off to do interviews in Moscow with survivors and what they were telling me made me feel like this was worth doing. I put some of those stories or aspects of their description of camp life into the script."

Q: You shot the film chronologically, shooting in Bulgaria, Morocco and India. Any memorable days?

A: "Any director who shoots in the desert always thinks of 'Lawrence of Arabia' or (filmmaker) David Lean. David Lean owns the desert. One day in Morocco, I noticed an Arab man in long robes -- he was in charge of keeping the snakes off the set. He had been watching me for three days. He came over to me, leaned toward my ear and said: "The desert is with you." My first thought was, 'Wow, that was just like a movie scene!' Then I thought, I'm glad it's not against me!"

Q: Being in the Himalayas, having just wrapped this long journey, what was going through your head?

A: "You know what I was thinking in between moments of dancing and hilarity? I was thinking, 'How is that scene going to cut? I better get back to the cutting room!'"

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

New "Idol" judge Tyler could easily quit day job

By Shirley Halperin

Thu Jan 20, 2011 9:28pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Season 10 of American Idol premiered Wednesday to much fanfare and for good reason: two new judges, rocker Steven Tyler and pop star Jennifer Lopez, sat at the table ruled by Simon Cowell for so many years.

Looking to spice up the franchise, the producers rolled out a revamped opening theme, a glossed-up logo and new interstitials spotlighting the word "IDOL" in ginormous letters. Fox hopes the numbers will back up the hype, but they can rest easy knowing they have a new star on their hands: Tyler.

From Twitter activity to the blogosphere, the verdict is in and the 62-year-old legend with the scrappy hair and big voice who likes to sing along with the contestants -- good or bad -- is a hit. His greatest accomplishment: making us forget for a minute that the season 9 foursome including Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi ever existed, but at the same time, reminding us that "Idol" is at its absolute best when it's unscripted, unpredictable and unscrupulous.

Two out of three ain't bad, and we have Tyler (and Meatloaf) to thank for that, too. As for his compatriots on the other side of the table? Jennifer Lopez proved to be the nurturing, gentle, and forgiving presence that many had expected. You could practically hear a faint collective "awww" spreading in the back of the room (much like the occasional crew member's belly laugh which would break out after a signature Tyler-ism) every time she felt the slightest bit conflicted -- which was almost all the time. That fact will likely be the biggest criticism heard from "Idol" loyalists in the coming days: that Lopez was too easy on would-be contestants who likely wouldn't have recovered from a particularly stinging Cowell assessment.

As for Randy Jackson? He didn't stray too far off the dawg path, but there was an air of authority about him that hadn't truly come out in years past. But what was up with his new nickname for Ryan Seacrest, "Cresty?" Clearly, these guys spend way too much time together.

But back to the unscrupulous part... No, there won't be too many artificial put-downs, jarring reality checks or plain old mean-spirited commentary -- or any at all. We're entering a new era of Idol, transitioning from "sleepy" in season 9 to syrupy in season 10. Have a Coke and a smile and sing your heart out!

That said, the first try-outs did offer some promising talent. Robbie Rosen, for one. The 16-year-old from Merrick, New York could have tried out for O-Town back in 2000, but his voice went way beyond boy band gimmickry.

As it turns out, the 16-year-olds pretty much ruled the first round roost. There was Melinda Ademi, whose family fled war-torn Kosovo, and Travis Orlando, who bookended the first episode with a rousing rendition of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours," a perennial Idol favorite. Victoria Huggins was another talented teen, belting "Midnight Train to Georgia" with the gusto and enthusiasm of a Rachel Berry disciple. Also impressive: Devyn Rush, the singing waitress from Ellen's Stardust Diner in New York City, otherwise known as the pedestrian nightmare that is the corner of 51st Street and Broadway, the potentially hunky Caleb Hawley, and Briell Von Hugel, who's got music in her blood and a heartwarming backstory (her doo wop-singing dad beat throat cancer): the perfect "Idol" package.

It all made for a promising start until star-breasted Jersey girl Tiffany Rios made an appearance, though to her credit, the girl can sort of sing. Still, the joke contestants have always had a heavy presence in these early rounds and season 10 was no different, saving its silliest star, 25-year-old Yoji "Pop" Asano, for almost last. Talk about lost in translation, here was your quintessential somewhat delusional "Idol" hopeful putting on a circus show: Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." sung in the key of tone deaf. Amusing? Sure, but both Lopez and Tyler looked like they want to press fast forward and get to the good stuff.