Baby Boy (2001) stars Tyrese as a young black man who has a daughter by one woman, a son by another, and lives at home with his mother. It is the story of how he finally manages to become a man, which is no easy thing in the hood. Definitely a character driven drama, it was still compelling through the entire 129 minutes. Three women show breasts, Tamara LaSeon Bass when she is surprised in the shower, and Taraji P. Henson and Candy Brown Huston in very hot sex scenes.

IMDB readers say 6.6/10, Berardinelli says 3 stars, and Ebert says 3 1/2. Director John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood) made a very different film this time -- one which focuses on relationships rather than gang violence. HE seems to be saying, yes, the prejudice you face is one of the reasons life is tough, but if you would not father a bunch of kids out of wedlock, and think about getting a real job, it would not be as bad. The film was a box office success, grossing $28.734M against a budget of $16M. This film is not for everyone, but is very well made. C+

I'm letting Tuna handle new releases on his own this week, and I'm going to work on classics and encyclopedia updates. Today: Chaplin. Just an OK movie - too ambitious - tried to cover every minute of the life of a thousand year old guy who was one of the great geniuses of the 20th century, leaving about a minute for every important event. 

On the other hand, it featured charismatic performances by Downey and Kevin Kline, and excellent production values, so I enjoy the film even though I can see it is shallow. I especially enjoy seeing women who look this this beautiful without their clothing. Milla Jovovich looked especially fresh

• Diane Lane (1, 2)

• Milla (1, 2)

• Moira Kelly (1, 2)

• Unknowns (1, 2, 3)

LETTERS

Hey, Scoop

In addition to Nat King Cole, I'd mention Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as two women who were both excellent singers and also turned out to be surprisingly good natural actresses.  Reba's now earned raves in movies, TV and on Broadway.  I can't say their acting is better than their singing, but it's certainly not a noticeable step down.

Also, William Shatner's second career of singer is much more impressive than his first career as an actor.  As an actor, he's just a mediocre stiff blowhard, but as a singer, he created a whole new genre of bad celebrity shout/"singing" that's helped revitalize his career through its pure astounding awfulness.

Finally, I've never seen Anna Kournikova act, but I have to assume it will be better than her tennis playing.

Actually, based on her appearance in Me, Myself, and Irene, it doesn't look promising.

To be serious for a moment, consider the difference in perception between the two professions. Tennis is a not the right profession to choose if you aren't mentally tough. Without a doubt, Anna is one of the 25 best female tennis players in the world. By acting standards, that means she's probably better at tennis than Emma Thompson is at acting.  If we could rank them, we would call the 25th best actress in the world a "genius", and yet we call the 25th best tennis player a "loser"!

Imagine if she becomes as good an actress as she is at tennis - top 25. With the way she looks. she will become richer than Bill Gates. Ain't gonna happen, however.

American-French is a "words" niche worth exploring.  Nohdurr Dayme and Maydurr Dee are obvious examples.  Then there is 'Bernard'.  If an American calls himself Burr-NARD then of course that is the correct pronunciation of his name, but it can be disconcerting to an English BUH-nud let alone a French Behr-nar.

When I was a little kid, my friends and I used to sing a playground song - I don't know if it came from an old movie or Mad Magazine, or what, but it went like this. (Tune of the Notre Dame fight song). "cheer, cheer, for ol' Notre Dame. You take the Notary, I'll take the dame". Song isn't any good if you pronounce it the French way.

Actually, that foreign language sword cuts both ways. Did you ever hear a Frenchman try to say "Hank"?

Actually, that sword cuts every possible way. People normally bring proper names and other unique nouns into their language from other languages, but they pronounce the new words with the sounds they know.

My Grandfather loved Western stories, and "Vat-so" was one of his classic manglings of place names - you know, Vatso, a city in Texas spelled W-A-C-O.

My mom decided not to call my sister "Wendy" when she heard my grandpa pronounce it. Absolutely true, no exaggeration.

When I lived in England, Tex-Mex food was just starting to become popular, and it was enjoyable to hear the British pronounciations.  A fajita (fa-HEE-ta) was a FUDGE-it-a or a fa-JIT-a. They really wanted that "J" in there. A taco (TOCK-o) was a TACK-o, and so forth.

One of the hardest places for me to make the transition from spoken to written and back was Ireland. During the weekdays, I'd be working with the Irish guys, and it seemed simple to understand  "Dun Leary". But then on the weekend, when on your own, just try to find "Leary" on the map! (Laoghaire).

Also in my mailbox:

False Anthrax Scare

Detroit Lions football practice was delayed on Wednesday for nearly two hours. One of the players, while on his way to the locker room, happened to look down and notice a suspicious looking, unknown white powdery substance on the practice field.

The head coach immediately suspended practice while the FBI was called in to investigate. After a complete field analysis, the Bureau's lab boys determined that the white substance, unknown to the players, was the goal  line.

Practice was resumed when the FBI decided that the team would not be likely to encounter the substance again.

Scoop,

Knowing your interest in bad movies, and of course, your barely-concealed crush on James Van Der Beek, I thought you might find this of interest. It's from Fox News' Roger Friedman.

Pat Reeder, The Comedy Wire


"It seems that TV stardom and movie stardom don't always click. Such is the case for James Van Der Beek of Dawson's Creek fame. His big movie break, Texas Rangers, is considered so bad it's headed straight to video - and that's if he's lucky.

The $30 million catastrophe was filmed by Miramax's Dimension division two years ago, and was planned to capitalize on the popularity of the teen soap star.  But by now the movie is felt to be so incredibly unsalvageable that it would best be never shown on the big screen. Dimension has announced several release dates for Texas Rangers, but none have come to fruition. And none will, I am told.

"It should be buried as deeply as possible and never dug up," says a production source. "James Van Der Beek cannot act, at least not in this."

Ouch!

Texas Rangers also co-stars The Practice's Dylan McDermott, Dimension teen queen Rachael Leigh Cook, former model and That '70s Show Fonzie wannabe Ashton Kutcher and pop star Usher Raymond. It was directed by Steve Miner, whose previous credits are mostly from television. But Miner is also responsible for the 1986 clunker Soul Man, a truly
offensive outing in which the very white C. Thomas Howell pretended to be black to get a scholarship to Harvard. The movie was so dreadful that it seriously hampered the careers of Howell and his co-star Rae Dawn Chong.

For Dimension, Texas Rangers is the rare total write off. The division is incredibly successful, with hits including the Scream series, Spy Kids and Scary Movie

But Texas Rangers is not the only movie with big name stars to lose its theatrical release and go from the shelf right to the video store. Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them co-starring the director's former flame Laura Dern, has become something of a movie industry legend. It's unlikely it will ever have a red carpet premiere. And Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel, starring box office draw Mel Gibson, played for less than a week last February before it too was boxed up and carted away."

Nastassja Kinski

Christina Venuti

Landis wrote, produced and directed this case study in mediocrity. Really makes you wonder what happened to the guy. After all, this is the same man that gave us several modern classics, including: "Kentucky Fried Movie", "Animal House", "The Blues Brothers", "An American Werewolf in London", "Trading Places", and Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!

Here is the busty Bobbie topless and full frontal in scenes from "Die Abzocker - Eine eiskalte Affäre" Also known as "The Hustle" and "A Sordid Affair"

Oddly enough, for writer/director Deborah Brock, this was by far not the scariest movie she ever made. That honor goes to the Corey Feldman movie "Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever" (1990)! Trust me...what could more terrifying than watching Corey with really long, permed hair, dressing and "dancing" like Michael Jackson, and trying to sing!

Here is the breakdown:

Various
(1, 2, 3, 4)

I have seen an unedited version of the movie "Daybreak", and it contains the same scene you showed, but includes FULL FRONTAL from Moira Kelly. I have been looking for this forever. Does anyone have vidcaps?

>From NY Post, Page Six:

GWYNETH Paltrow claims Patrick Demarchelier tricked her into posing nude for Harper's Bazaar.

Paltrow is "really upset" because "[he] lied to me and said he wasn't going to put my whole bottom in the picture," she told Us Weekly "- and he did."

But the photographer tells PAGE SIX, "I didn't force her. I asked her to do some nudes, and she said yes. She's probably joking."

Paltrow's rep didn't return calls. A Hearst rep said: "Gwyneth saw the issue over three weeks ago, and we are quite frankly surprised at her delayed reaction. She was very cooperative about posing."

George Lucas sues company behind animated porno, Star Ballz

George Lucas is suing the company behind an animated porno called Star Ballz. Lucasfilm, is suing Media Market Group for copyright and trademark infringement. He claims the similarities between Star Ballz and Star Wars could confuse people into thinking they had a connection. According to the suit, this confusion could result in a loss of sales for Lucasfilm. The suit also argues that Media Market Group's pornographic film harms Lucasfilm's reputation. Linda Wildblood, a partner at Media Market Group, says Star Ballz is an animation parody.

"Just like Scary Movie is a spoof of horror movies, Star Ballz parodies many different movies and themes. No one in their right mind could look at it and say this is Star Wars."

Ms Wildblood says the animated film incorporates parodies of scenes from popular movies such as Silence of the Lambs, Titanic and The Matrix. Other pop culture references include a Darth Vader who wears Mickey Mouse ears and aliens dancing to The Full Monty theme tune.

"It is clearly meant for humorous purposes," she adds. Lucasfilm's lawyers didn't return repeated phone calls.

More details from Entertainment Weekly online:

Lucas: Attack of the "Star Ballz"
by Josh Grossberg

Suddenly the terms "light saber" and "Ewok" have whole new meanings. Wanting to make sure Star Wars fans know "Jedi porn" is not a Force Yoda and Obi-Wan reckon with, George Lucas is suing the makers of an X-rated animé called Star Ballz.

Lucas and his company, Lucasfilm, filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco on Friday claiming the X-rated Star Ballz movie shamelessly rips off his Star Wars copyrights. The suit says Star Ballz is so similar to Star Wars that consumers could get the wrong impression and think Lucas endorsed the skin flick.

Aside from the damage it could cause his good reputation, Lucas & Co. say Star Ballz could also negatively impact the sales of Star Wars-related merchandise, including toys, games, books and CD-ROMs. The Star Wars mastermind is seeking a cease-and-desist order to prevent Star Ballz producer Media Market Group from further distributing the pornographic 'toon, as well as potentially millions of dollars in damages from loss of sales.

The folks at Media Market Group insist they haven't gone over to the Dark Side. Linda Wildblood, a partner at the company (whose name sounds oddly Star Wars-esque), says Star Ballz is simply a parody of several movies and pop-culture phenomena, not just Lucas' space opus, and is therefore protected under the First Amendment.

"Just like Scary Movie is a spoof of horror movies, Star Ballz parodies many different movies and themes," Wildblood tells the Associated Press. "No one in their right mind could look at it and say this is Star Wars."

To illustrate her point, she points to a scenes showing a Darth Vader-like character wearing Mickey Mouse ears and another with aliens dancing to the Full Montysoundtrack. Wildblood says the film also lampoons Die Hard, The Matrix, The Silence of the Lambs and Titanic. According to its Website, starballz.com, the movie's plot follows "Wank Solo," who on a booty quest and comes to the rescue of a very horny princess being held hostage by the evil Ass Star. Wank's sidekick is named "Chewhowie," described as "a Wookiee version of Howard Stern," while Wank's enemy is Lord Limpbiscuit, touted as a manly stud version of Darth Vader. The site tells viewers to be on the lookout for "déjà-vu movie scenes" and "a lot of sex," in addition to acknowledging that they also expect to get sued (gee, ya think?).

"It's clearly meant for humorous purposes," Wildblood says, pointing to the movie's video jacket, which displays several fake reviews ("Sex, violence, crude humor and hard-core music prevent this movie from the masterpiece it could have been," reads one notice attributed to the Amish Tribune). Media Market Group says it will strike back against the Lucas empire and continue to sell copies right up until a court order prevents them from doing so.

The suit also names eight other adult animé distributors as defendants. Lucasfilm declined to comment on the case, pending possible litigation. The ever-vigilant, ever-litigious Lucas is fiercely protective of all things Star Wars. In July, he and his company blasted a medical-instruments maker who decided to name its newest gizmo--a powerful energy beam-related surgical device--the Light Saber.