TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| I'm not God, public servant tells widow DEATH is a time for letters of condolence, but one grieving Kiwi widow was delivered quite the opposite. news.com.au |
Sandra Bullock deserves a pat on the back In the movies, women can be geeky if they are only mildly eccentric – nothing that can't be corrected with makeup and a studly maleSandra Bullock has starred in some turkeys in her time, but lately she has been getting some of the worst reviews of her career for All About Steve, in which she plays a dysfunctional Âcruciverbalist who becomes obsessed with a news cameraman. "Seriously annoying," wrote Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Â"Unwatchable, unbearably unfunny," said Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. "Grimly unfunny," was Manohla Dargis's verdict in the New York Times. All the reviewers like Bullock; you know they do, because they're always saying so. But they hate All About Steve.I have yet to read a review which acknowledges that the film, for all its faults, is unique among mainstream romcoms in concluding that geeky girls don't need boyfriends. This, for me, is a radical proposition. So what if Bullock's character is annoying, with Âstalkerish tendencies and a sort of social ÂAsperger's that makes her babble and wear inappropriate clothing? In the movies, it seems, women can be geeky only if they're also adorable, perhaps with mildly eccentric fashion sense – nothing that can't be corrected with makeup, a personal shopper and the solid affection of a studly male. They're not supposed to lurch around in shiny red boots, being loud and embarrassing.Bullock has played geeks before. In While You Were Sleeping she was self-effacing and sweet. In The Net she was a computer nerd. Miss Congeniality and its sequel were dismissed as fluff, yet they peddled the message (still pretty unusual for Hollywood) that: a) women don't necessarily need men to rescue them; and b) they usually look better before their Barbie doll makeovers. So, in her own way, she's been doing her bit for the sisterhood for years, even if the films weren't slapped with a Âfeminist Âlabel. If she's prepared to push her Âgeekiness to uncomfortable extremes, as she does in All About Steve, she Âdeserves a pat on the back instead of this grumbling that she's not playing her usual charming self.Because while nerdy guys like Seth Rogen and Shia LaBeouf are everywhere these days, their female counterparts are still barely to be glimpsed. In every genre other than the shopping-and-wedding romcom, women are little more than decoration, trophies or spoilsports whose function is to remind the guys it's time they faced up to adult Âresponsibility instead of smoking pot/watching Star Wars/putting their albums into alphabetical order. So shouldn't we be treasuring those rare female characters who don't conform to these Âstereotypes? Even the annoying ones?Bullock recently became the first female star to single-handedly power a film past the $200m mark at the US box office – not All About Steve, alas, but the inspirational true-life The Blind Side. She and a handful of other actors such as Drew Barrymore (who recently made her directing debut with Whip It) wield a certain amount of clout through their own production companies, and are constantly being exhorted to make not so much movies, as some sort of Enriching Female Experience, that sliver of cinematic gold that will bridge the gap between the populist Mamma Mia! and artier fare such as Frozen River or Bright Star – a miraculous artefact which women can enjoy but that also provides nourishment for their souls.Well, bollocks to that. Male directors don't come under this kind of pressure – they make the sort of films they want to make, or which studios want them to make, and they don't get berated for letting their entire gender down if they make mistakes. They're not being urged to make Enriching Male Cinematic ÂExperiences all the time. Occasionally they do, more often they don't.Nor am I looking forward to this mythical Enriching Female Cinematic Experience, which looms dreadfully in my consciousness like a sort of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as Âreimagined by Sally Potter. I'm all for more leading roles for women, but the only thing we should exhort female film-makers to do is make more films.Sandra BullockComedyAnne Billsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Avatar smashes Chinese all-time box-office record Figures' release coincide with reports that China is curtailing the wide release of James Cameron's blue behemoth from 23 JanuaryIt would appear to be a case of shutting the door after the big blue alien has bolted. If, as has been reported, censors move to scale back Avatar's Chinese run later this week due to fears it could cause unrest, they will do so in the knowledge that James Cameron's sci-fi megalith has already been seen in cinemas by unprecedented numbers in the world's most populous nation.Studio Twentieth Century Fox reported yesterday that the film had smashed the all-time Chinese box-office record with a haul of $73.2m (£44.6m) after just two weeks of screenings. That moves it past the $63m taken by previous box-office champion 2012 as recently as last month: the Chinese record is falling on a regular basis due to huge increases in the number of cinema screens in the country.The Hollywood Reporter said many in the north of China braved freezing temperatures at the weekend to pay around 80 yuan (£7) for tickets, though in some cases touts were reportedly selling them for up to 300 yuan (£27). Not that they'll have much more opportunity – Chinese media, in particular Hong Kong's Apple Daily, have reported that the state-run China Film Group has ordered cinemas across the country to only show the 3D edition of the film and stop showing the 2D version from 23 January, effectively preventing its general distribution.Parallels had been drawn between the plight of the Na'vi, who face the threat of eviction from their woodland home in Cameron's blockbuster, and those in China vulnerable to displacement by predatory property developers. Reports suggested Avatar would be replaced with screenings of a patriotic biopic on the life of Confucius.China's box office is still small compared with North America's, but the country is a growing marketplace for Hollywood films. That growth is hampered, however, by a ruling that only 20 foreign movies can be imported into cinemas each year. Cameron himself visited Beijing in December as part of Avatar's press tour, calling on the Chinese government to end the restriction, which is also being challenged by the World Trade Organisation.Avatar currently stands at No 2 in the all-time global box-office chart, behind Cameron's own Titanic, with $1.6bn. It is likely to overtake its predecessor's $1.842bn worldwide tally within two weeks to become the highest grossing release in history, unadjusted for inflation.Meanwhile, a 42-year-old Taiwanese man with a history of high blood pressure has died of a stroke likely triggered by over-excitement from watching Avatar in 3D, according to the AFP press agency. The man, who suffered from hypertension, started to feel unwell during a screening earlier this month in the northern city of Hsinchu, and was taken to hospital. He died 11 days later from a brain haemorrhage. "It's likely that the over-excitement from watching the movie triggered his symptoms," said emergency room doctor Peng Chin-chih.James CameronScience fiction and fantasyChinaCensorshipBen Childguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Fawcett estate sues producer The estate of 'Charlie’s Angels' actress Farrah Fawcett has sued a producer over his alleged actions before her death. breakingnews.ie |
The Dude does not abide awards Jeff Bridges doesn’t enjoy awards season. breakingnews.ie |