Lindsay! Why?

From the Huffington Post:

"Right back where we started: Lindsay Lohan is being charged with a felony. Again.

Lohan, who just left three months of rehab, is being charged with Felony Grand Theft for allegedly stealing jewelry from a Los Angeles store last week, TMZ reports. The charges will be filed as early as Monday.

"The charges come after the LAPD began to investigate video surveillance that showed her with the necklace in the store, and photos of Lohan a week later showing her wearing a necklace that looks astoundingly similar.

"If she's guilty, Lohan could face jail time, especially since a conviction would violate the terms of her probation.

"Lohan narrowly missed being disciplined for an alleged drunken incident while in rehab, and this new trouble could not only send her back to jail, but scuttle her role in a thinly veiled autobiographical film that was supposed to be her comeback.

"For her part, Lohan says that the accusations are "bulls**t" and not to believe them. She says that she "borrowed" the necklace and TMZ says she'll fight the charges."

 

Oh, Tura Satana, how do I love thee? Let me count the curves, but also the kicks, the punches, the smoldering stares, the black-suited, unique beauty and the awe-inspiring power that ripped through the screen like an amazon from another universe. As much as I love these actresses, Tura wasn't sublime Anita Ekberg, she wasn't Lynda Carter's busty Wonder Woman, she wasn't delicious Ann-Margret circa Kitten with a Whip -- Tura was a tiger with a blackbelt, a true exotic who actually lived a life of hard knocks and one she, no doubt, disgorged in cathartic release on screen. And she did it with style.

Tura accomplished and endured many things in her eventful life, a life that could only be described as cinematic -- a veritable Kill Bill Part 1, 2, 3, and 4 (the early years).  There were her stories of an internment camp, an early, horrific gang rape, reform school, and a 15-year revenge on her victimizers (Beatrice Kiddo indeed). There were her impressive stints as model, dancer, girlfriend and influencer of Elvis Presley, her work with Billy Wilder in Irma La Douce and then that movie, the most obvious, but the most iconic and emblematic of Tura, the icon.

Her Varla in the beautifully shot exploitation classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! remains one of the toughest female performances on screen. Though director Russ Meyer and his unique, often gorgeous filming, did help create the ultimate ultra-vixen uber-babe -- one who inspired countless other bad babes of the big screen, and one so brazenly scary that you definitely didn't want to take her home to mom and dad (but then, maybe they'd like her. I can personally attest that the woman was certainly nice in person) -- he couldn't have done it without her.

 

Sometimes it's the small moments.

As in life, in a movie one little thing can have the power to send you into a bittersweet reverie of love lost, or fill your heart with enigmatic emotions. For me, it usually involves music.

There are too many music-in-movie moments throughout the history of cinema to discuss here, but often, even during the shortest bursts of soundtrack -- shorter than say, Harold waiting for the fate of Maude and driving his car towards that cliff to the entire tune of Cat Stevens' "Trouble" (one of the most heart-achingly beautiful and brilliantly edited mergings of song and image) -- if set properly, I can get chills just watching a few moments of a musical interlude.

It occurred in Davis Guggenheim's documentary "It Might Get Loud," when Jimmy Page air-guitared to his own old 45 of Link Wray's "Rumble." How disarming, touching, oddly life-affirming it was to watch a master air-strum to the thick, evil, inspirational power chords of that other master, Wray, with the beaming smile of a little boy and a lifelong fan. Perfection.

In 2010, it happened in the mostly written-off "The Book of Eli," in which directors Albert and Allen Hughes make the inspired decision to meld Denzel Washington with Al Green.

Of course, Al Green is easy. Easy in the way that you can't insert an Al Green song in a movie and not make me feel something. You can't play an Al Green song in a car without making me look at the world differently. So introducing Washington, after trudging through post-apocalyptic desolation, covered in scarves and layers and grime and dust, and then unwrapping all of this coating to reveal an older face, a scarred body and a mysterious, sadder demeanor, to the tune of "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (written by the Gibb brothers -- nice touch, Hughes brothers) was one of the most poignant movie moments I've seen this year (and I repeat, it's early yet).

And then there's the fact that Washington puts the song on himself, taking refuge in a bombed-out house, then grabbing his battered MP3 player with a dying battery to escape the world's ugliness to the lyrics (and please, hear Green's soulfully introspective falsetto as you read this): "I can think of younger days, when living for my life was everything a man could want to do. I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow." Washington choosing that song makes it more affecting. Thank god he chose that song. And, of course he chose that song. This is what Denzel Washington would listen to. He's not a young man. He's a man. Further, he's a god-damn man. And a movie star. He's a dying breed.

As is the expressive resonance of Al Green. Now, if only the directors had allowed that song to play throughout the entire scene. And if only another Green tune closed the picture. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Choosing a singer who still resides as reverend at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, TN works a dual purpose in that "The Book of Eli" is about The Book, as in the Good Book -- the Bible, the book that Washington's mysterious wanderer Eli has held in his possession, spending 30 years of his life braving a dangerous scorched landscape to protect the text. People want it. Why? Because the words written in that leatherette edition you pass over in your hotel bedside drawer are also contained in Eli's much-loved locked copy, the only one left in the world.

 

Because the Weinstein's sent an email directing me to story from the Sun in which it was revealed that The Queen loved "The King's Speech" (the world is a strange place), I found myself scrolling through the Sun and landed on this story.

"Actor Scoffs Hugh-ge Calories." (Is that a great headline, or what?)

Anyway, Hugh Jackman has been ordered to chow down: 

"The actor is ignoring his waistline and scoffing a whopping 6,000 calories a day.

"That's 4,000 more than a man's normal daily intake.

"The dietary regime is in preparation for his return as crime-fighting comic creation Wolverine, which will be directed by DARREN ARONOFSKY.

"The Aussie star said: 'It's 6,000 calories a day. It's rough. Right now, I'm 210 lbs.

"'Darren said with the last one, 'Hey, you looked great, but you're so tall that in those long shots you looked kind of like CLINT EASTWOOD, and that's not Wolverine.'"
 

This just landed in my email box and well, I've removed one glove and have found myself clapping extremely quietly. (I don't think Queens do it this way, but I would).

Here's the news. I wonder if this will affect the Tomatometer? It should.

From The Weinstein Company:

"The Weinstein Company (TWC) is honored to learn that Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, has enjoyed a private screening of THE KING’S SPEECH, as reported by Duncan Larcombe, Royal Editor, in today’s edition of The Sun.  The film, directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler, tells the story of Her Majesty’s father, King George VI, as he struggles to overcome a crippling speech impediment while grappling with his sudden, unexpected ascension to throne and the mounting danger of Nazi Germany. 

"THE KING’S SPEECH stars Colin Firth as King George VI, Geoffrey Rush as the King’s speech therapist, Lionel Logue, and Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother." 

 

With those alleged "Super Bowl widows" roaming the streets while their husbands lounge in XL sweatpants, munch on Nachos, drink copious amounts of beer and do what other overused stereotype one can think of regarding football and men (oh yes, they watch the game too), studios and box office prognosticators are thinking women might take themselves to a movie.

Really? I bet they either watch the game too or simply turn the TV on in the bedroom, taking in a marathon day of "America's Next Top Model" re-runs, feeling guilty for also eating those Nachos and ignoring their children. Or maybe they just read a book or something.

Anyway, EW thinks the gals might venture outside and drive themselves to a theater for "The Roommate." It wasn't screened for press, but if you've seen "Single White Female," you get the idea. (Hey, there's an idea, instead of watching the game, rent "Single White Female.")

From EW:

"With practically every Y-chromosome in America focusing its attention on Super Bowl Sunday, don’t expect a very high score from the box office this weekend. The films that normally fare best against the big game are those that attract female moviegoers, particularly young, single women. Last year, the romantic drama 'Dear John' debuted to a potent $30.5 million, drawing an opening-weekend audience that was 84 percent female. This year’s female-skewing offering, the new college thriller 'The Rommate,'  will likely make only half that, but the result should still be enough to lead the frame. The weekend’s other new release, the 3-D cave-diving thriller 'Sanctum' will have to settle for second place as its target audience virtually vanishes on Sunday."
 

Suddenly this project is no longer the obsession of Johnny Depp lovers, longstanding "Dark Shadows" fanatics or just "Goths" in general. Now we've got Bond and Bertolucci enthusiasts  in on the action: "Dark Shadows" may co-star Eva Green.

TheWrap discusses how the Bond Girl is in talks to join Tim Burton's latest:

"She made the most elegant Bond Girl in 007 history.  Now Eva Green is in talks to cast a spell over Johnny Depp as the witch Angelique in 'Dark Shadows,' TheWrap has confirmed In addition to playing doomed arm candy in "Casino Royale," Green starred in Bernardo Bertolucci's sexually explicit 'The Dreamers.' 

"'Dark Shadows' marks the umpteenth collaboration between Depp and Tim Burton, who have paired memorably in everything from 'Sleepy Hollow' to 'Sweeney Todd.'

"The Warner Brothers film will be a big screen adaptation of the 1960s small screen, gothic soap opera."

 

Another actress who starred in a notorious picture that somewhat defined a generation (and gave Sweden quite a reputation) has just died.

Lena Nyman, best known for starring in the sexually liberated Swedish film "I Am Curious (Yellow) has passed away at the age of 66.

Here's more:

"Nyman's manager Mats Nilemar says she died peacefully in a Stockholm hospital early Friday after a long illness.

"Nyman starred in more than 50 Swedish films and plays. She won international fame mainly as the lead character in 'I Am Curious — Yellow,' a 1967 film that was banned in the U.S. for two years, and its sequel, 'I Am Curious — Blue.'

"Directed by Vilgot Sjoman, the movies combined social criticism with frank depictions of nudity and sex, contributing to the Sweden's image in the '60s as sexually liberated.

"Nyman also starred in Ingmar Bergman's 'Autumn Sonata.'"