| Stan Lee joins with MTV to create new comic series By SANDY COHEN 2010-10-09T11:14:49ZLOS ANGELES (AP) -- MTV is helping to bring Stan Lee's newest superhero to life.... hosted.ap.org |
Jedward plan spooky 'X-Factor' return Jedward plan to turn 'The X Factor' stage into a giant haunted hotel. feeds.breakingnews.ie |
West Is West – review This belated sequel to East Is East provides chuckles but fails to get to grips with the troubles facing British Muslims and PakistanIt's been more than a decade since the Ayub Khan-Din-scripted East Is East liberated British-Asian cinema from the furrowed-brow earnestness that had largely been its lot. It managed to combine an effervescent cheerfulness with simple but effective points about how ethnic identity changes across successive generations of immigrants. No doubt with one eye on current political debate, this belated sequel looks to develop the theme and provide context to the arguments about immigration.The first film was set in 1971; this one takes place five years later. Almost all of the principal cast has reassembled: Om Puri is patriarch George Khan, baffled fury personified; Linda Bassett is his English second wife, Ella; Emil Marwa and Jimi Mistry are among his brood of Salford-raised sons (the latter, though, only pops in for a single scene as the lubricious Tariq, now running a head shop in Manchester). The main new arrival is Aqib Khan, as George's youngest, Sajid – presumably the original actor, Jordan Routledge, is, apart from anything else, too old to play a schoolboy. Sajid is now George's principal dramatic foil: worried that he is becoming a juvenile delinquent, George drags him off for a holiday in the old country, there to expose him to the Pakistani way of life and to get him to understand where he comes from.A succession of neatly judged, if hardly subtle, scenes expose us to the trip's ever-complicating ramifications for George – or Jahangir, as he is pointedly called once he reaches Pakistan. Arriving in the old family homestead, he encounters his submissive first wife and extended family, as well as a twinkly old sage who volunteers to take Sajid in hand. Khan's principal flaw, it rapidly comes clear, is a serious lack of self-awareness: it comes as a shock that his son Maneer is not a popular marriage item because of George's own inter-ethnic lifestyle. Thus the stage is carefully set for the unexpected arrival in Punjab of Khan's wife number two, and physical confrontation between the English and Pakistani ends of his existence.With little, tonally, to distinguish West Is West from the first film, it's all perfectly watchable: the odd chuckle, one or two nicely moving scenes, a good number of culture clash gags. But anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the current turmoil among British Muslims, or even just some sense of what lies behind Pakistan's current troubles, will leave disappointed – as a chronicler of Pakistan, Khan-Din is concerned to present the most harmless, cheery view possible. (You will wait in vain for anything even as mildly controversial as Hanif Kureishi's dialogue in My Beautiful Laundrette: "That country has been sodomised by religion.") This, no doubt, is deliberate: a corrective to the poisonous atmosphere of witch-hunt and Islamophobia that dominates some sections of British society. But inevitably it means West Is West is something of a lightweight. Think of all that's happened since 1999. You wouldn't have guessed it from this.Rating: 3/5London film festivalDramaComedyAndrew Pulverguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Followill: Painkiller addiction has wiped my memory Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill has confessed his addiction to painkillers wiped his memory. feeds.breakingnews.ie |
Avatar 2 and 3 to return James Cameron to Pandora Star director signs up to take charge of sequels to science fiction 3D blockbusterJames Cameron's next two films will both be set on Pandora, he confirmed today.Variety reports that Cameron signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to direct both Avatar 2, which has been given a tentative release date of December 2014 and Avatar 3, due for distribution a year later."In the second and third films, which will be self-contained stories that also fulfil a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of Avatar's visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world," said Cameron. "I'm looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild."Cameron will begin work on the scripts for both films in early 2011, after which he'll also decide whether or not to shoot them back-to-back.Released last December, Avatar is the top-grossing film of all time, having made $2.8bn (£1.8bn) worldwide, aided considerably by the inflated prices for 3D tickets.Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman explained that their commitment to the franchise was not merely financial. "Avatar is not only the highest grossing movie of all time, it created a universe based on the singular imagination and daring of James Cameron, who also has raised the consciousness of people worldwide to some of the greatest issues facing our planet," they said. "We had no greater priority, and can feel no greater joy, than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the world of Avatar."Today's announcement throws into doubt whether Cameron will direct the 3D remake of Cleopatra, with Angelina Jolie in the title role, which he had been linked to.That film would have been a Sony production. Cameron's first film with Fox was Aliens in 1985; he also worked for Fox on Titanic, which held the box office record before Avatar.James CameronScience fiction and fantasy3DCatherine Shoardguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |