�Mission Impossible 4� to be filmed in Dubai

The fourth sequel of action blockbuster �Mission Impossible� starring Oscar-winning actor Tom Cruise will be partly filmed in Dubai, the Gulf Arab emirate�s media office said today.

Dubai, a regional tourism and trading centre, is slowly emerging from a debt crisis following a crash of its property market after a global financial downturn. The slowdown led to billions of dollars in project cancellations and thousands of job losses.

Tom Cruise will star in �Mission Impossible 4� to be filmed in Dubai.





�Preparations for filming in Dubai have been agreed with the production company, Paramount, following two months of meetings and location scouting,� the media office said in a statement.

�Actual filming of the project, that will attract more than 400 industry professionals, is expected to commence within a few weeks,� it added.

Dubai has been on a mission to become a Singapore-style global business and leisure centre with fast living and no income tax.

As part of its ambitions, it has strived to become a movie hub in the region, launching a film festival to much fanfare in 2004, and marketing itself as a one-stop-shop for international movie production with projects such as Dubai Studio City (DSC).

Government-run Dubai Media Incorporated will provide technical and staff support for the production of the movie, while DSC will assist with technical and logistic support. The film will be directed by Brad Bird, known for pictures such as �The Incredibles� which grossed more than $261 million (RM807.53 million) in box office takings in 2004, and �Ratatouille�, which won the Oscar for best animated film in 2007.

Cosmopolitan Dubai has become a magnet for celebrities and movie stars with its luxury hotels, overlooking soft sandy beaches, palm-shaped man-made islands, and a skyline boasting the world�s tallest tower.

New �Resident Evil� rules world box office

�Resident Evil: Afterlife,� the fourth film in a zombie franchise starring Milla Jovovich, topped the worldwide box office during its first weekend, but could not prevent overall sales in North America from hitting their lowest level in two years.

The videogame-derived film earned US$73.2 million (RM234 million), of which US$27.7 million came from the United States and Canada where it was the only major new release, distributor Screen Gems said yesterday.

Even with earnings boosted by premium pricing for 3D engagements, the gross handily beat forecasts and the openings for the previous films in the series.

Internationally, �Afterlife� earned US$45.5 million from 29 markets, opening at No. 1 in most of them, including Japan (US$15.5 million), Russia (US$9.5 million), Spain (US$3.4 million) and Britain (US$2.9 million).

Jovovich reprises her starring role in the latest instalment for the �Resident Evil� franchise




The previous film, �Resident Evil: Extinction,� opened to US$23.7 million in North America, and US$17.4 million in those same 29 markets two years ago. It ended up with US$146 million worldwide.

Screen Gems, the mid-budget arm of Sony Corp, collaborated on development and production with German producer Constantin Film. The new one cost Sony about US$52 million. It was written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, Jovovich�s husband, who originated the franchise in 2002.

In North America, �Afterlife� earned more than the combined total of the next six films as overall sales slumped in the weekend following the Labour Day holiday, the traditional end of the lucrative summer movie-going season.

Sales for the top 12 films totalled about US$68 million, according to the box office analysis division of Hollywood.com. This ranks as the lowest total since the September 5-7 weekend of 2008, when the top 12 pulled in just US$50 million.

Screen Gems also claimed the No. 2 movie in North America as the heist thriller �Takers� earned US$6.1 million, rising one place; its total stands at US$48.1 million after three weekends.

Last weekend�s top film, Focus Features� George Clooney assassin drama �The American,� dropped to No. 3 with US$5.9 million, for a 12-day haul of US$28.3 million.

Rounding out the top five were the violent exploitation homage �Machete� with US$4.2 million, and Drew Barrymore�s latest romantic comedy bomb �Going the Distance� with US$3.8 million. Their respective 10-day totals rose to US$20.8 million and US$14 million.

Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co�s NBC Universal. �Machete� was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. �Going the Distance� was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

De Niro, Norton down for acting rematch in �Stone�

�Stone,� an ambiguous and dark drama premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, may not be an easy story for some audiences , but the nuanced tale was a draw for acting heavyweights Robert De Niro and Edward Norton (picture).

�I always liked the script,� De Niro said of �Stone,� which deals with hypocrisy and guilt, and is set in the rapidly decaying environs of post-recesson Detroit.

�I thought the whole thing had an interesting tone and feel about it,� the Oscar winner told Reuters in an interview.

De Niro plays Jack Mabry, a prison parole officer just days from retirement who has to deal with the manipulative Gerald �Stone� Creeson as one of his final assignments.

Played menacingly by Norton with cornrows and a hard stare, Stone is not above using his sexy wife Lucetta � model-actor Milla Jovovich in a shift from her �Resident Evil� action films � as the bait to force Jack to recommend an early release.

However, the line between criminal and upstanding citizen blur as Stone undergoes a spiritual transformation, while Jack�s encounters with Lucetta pressure his already decaying marriage and force him to compromise his own principles.

None of the characters are easy to sympathize with, and the film�s ending could best be described as ambiguous.

�I think that most of the films that I�ve really been affected by in my life have been the ones that really left me with a lot of questions in my head, a lot to think about,� Norton told Reuters.

De Niro-Norton rematch

The pairing of De Niro and Norton, considered among the greats of their respective acting generations, reunites the co-stars of the 2001 heist flick �The Score.�

But Norton said it took some convincing to get him to sign on. �At first the script was a little bit elusive for me. I didn�t really get it,� until director John Curran won him over, he said.

�But I definitely thought it was great to work with somebody a second time. (De Niro) has a very particular way of working.�

De Niro � known for immersing himself completely in roles, such as when he gained 60 pounds to play boxer Jake La Motta in �Raging Bull� � will often go off script in the middle of a scene to get a more authentic response from his co-stars.

�He really makes you earn scenes. He can be very resistant to doing things that just are following scripts. If you don�t earn the response, he kind of won�t give it to you,� Norton said. �It�s very bracing, actually.

While the scenes with Norton and De Niro might be a delight for film buffs who enjoy a good old acting showdown, the film, which hits theaters October 8 has earned mixed initial reviews.

Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter calls it an �unconvincing melodrama that few viewers are willing to buy.�, while Erik Childress of Cinematical says the film is �thrilling for what we�re left to ponder afterwards more than any suspense inherit in the interaction during it.�

Norton admitted that moviegoers looking for the characters to redeem themselves at the end of the film may come away disappointed, but he said the film�s strength lies in its ambiguity and unanswered questions.

�I see a lot of really crappy movies that are making sure you understand that redemption took place and they just put me to sleep,� he said.

�Everything doesn�t get redeemed in life, and I don�t think that�s the only thing that makes a movie have an impact.�

New �Resident Evil� rules world box office

�Resident Evil: Afterlife,� the fourth film in a zombie franchise starring Milla Jovovich, topped the worldwide box office during its first weekend, but could not prevent overall sales in North America from hitting their lowest level in two years.

The videogame-derived film earned US$73.2 million (RM234 million), of which US$27.7 million came from the United States and Canada where it was the only major new release, distributor Screen Gems said yesterday.

Jovovich reprises her starring role in the latest instalment for the �Resident Evil� franchise




Even with earnings boosted by premium pricing for 3D engagements, the gross handily beat forecasts and the openings for the previous films in the series.

Internationally, �Afterlife� earned US$45.5 million from 29 markets, opening at No. 1 in most of them, including Japan (US$15.5 million), Russia (US$9.5 million), Spain (US$3.4 million) and Britain (US$2.9 million).

The previous film, �Resident Evil: Extinction,� opened to US$23.7 million in North America, and US$17.4 million in those same 29 markets two years ago. It ended up with US$146 million worldwide.

Screen Gems, the mid-budget arm of Sony Corp, collaborated on development and production with German producer Constantin Film. The new one cost Sony about US$52 million. It was written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, Jovovich�s husband, who originated the franchise in 2002.

In North America, �Afterlife� earned more than the combined total of the next six films as overall sales slumped in the weekend following the Labour Day holiday, the traditional end of the lucrative summer movie-going season.

Sales for the top 12 films totalled about US$68 million, according to the box office analysis division of Hollywood.com. This ranks as the lowest total since the September 5-7 weekend of 2008, when the top 12 pulled in just US$50 million.

Screen Gems also claimed the No. 2 movie in North America as the heist thriller �Takers� earned US$6.1 million, rising one place; its total stands at US$48.1 million after three weekends.

Last weekend�s top film, Focus Features� George Clooney assassin drama �The American,� dropped to No. 3 with US$5.9 million, for a 12-day haul of US$28.3 million.

Rounding out the top five were the violent exploitation homage �Machete� with US$4.2 million, and Drew Barrymore�s latest romantic comedy bomb �Going the Distance� with US$3.8 million. Their respective 10-day totals rose to US$20.8 million and US$14 million.

Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co�s NBC Universal. �Machete� was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. �Going the Distance� was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Fast and Furious Fast Five New Pictures

Fast and Furious Fast Five.A part of the Fast Five cast

The Fast and the Furious has become one of the most successful automotive cinema sagas in history, with the franchise currently preparing to receive the fifth title: Fast Five.





According to filmofilia, Universal Pictures is working hard to prepare the shooting of the new production, with the motion picture set to involve Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, as well as director Justin Lin and producer Neal Moritz. All of the aforementioned names will make a return for the fifth incarnation of the F&F. Lin has directed two other movies in the franchise: �The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift� (the third one) and �The Fast and the Furious Original Parts� (the fourth one), while Moris has been the producer of all the previous titles in the series since the first one (�The Fast and the Furious�) was launched back in 2001.

Getting back to The Fast and the Furious Fast Five, we can tell you that the movie will see Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker) as �fugitives being pursued by legendary lawmen.�

However, we could say that if you are already preparing to call the cinema for a reservation, you�re a bit early. We don�t mean to spoil the fun you were planning for tonight, but we�ll have to tell you that the Fast Five will begin shooting by the end of the current year, with the movie coming in theaters sometime in the course of next year.

Meanwhile, you can get some popcorn, sit back in your chair and enjoy the adjacent picture showing Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Ludacris, Tyrese Bigson and Sung Kang (Han of Tokyo Drift) from the cast of the upcoming movie. (yeah, we know, no cars here!).

Leonardo Dicarpio help out Inception to have dream Box office opening.

DiCaprio says Japan perfect for 'Inception'

Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio (C)

TOKYO � Leonardo DiCaprio hopes his mind-warp thriller "Inception" will be a hit in Japan, which has long shown a taste for anime fantasies and surreal works by its own master-director Akira Kurosawa.

The Hollywood star was in Tokyo for the premiere of the sci-fi summer blockbuster by British director Christopher Nolan about a group of thieves who infiltrate their victims' dreams to steal their thoughts.




"This is a very surreal, multi-dimensional plot structure (which) needs ideas that don't come about from Hollywood very often," DiCaprio said.

"I'm truly excited to see how the audiences here would react to this idea," he said, crediting Japanese movie-goers with embracing new concepts such as works by animation director Hayao Miyazaki and cinema legend Kurosawa.

"I'm a huge fan of Japanese cinema, Japanese anime," DiCaprio said at a Tokyo press conference. "The Miyazaki film 'Spirited Away' has very surreal landscapes that audiences here seem to embrace and seem to love."

DiCaprio, a three-time Academy Award nominee, said his latest work stood out from what he admitted can be unimaginative Hollywood fare.

"Films that come out, especially during the summer time... seem to be a recycle from other plot structures, and this is truly unique," he said.

His co-star Ken Watanabe meanwhile lavished praise on Nolan, with whom he tied up for a second time after the 2005 film "Batman Begins", even likening him to the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci.

"I really wonder what's happening in Chris Nolan's head," Watanabe said. "He has all sorts of elements, not only literary but also scientific and architectural, with a full drive to prepare them and carry them out.

"It even makes me think he is a comeback of da Vinci."

But the Japanese actor also had a complaint to share: "The director first told me to play the role just like James Bond," he said with a stern look.

"Unfortunately he didn't have a Bond girl for me in the script."

Ali Larter in New Residet Evil: After life trailer with MIlla Jovovich

see an unpregnant Ali next in "Resident Evil: Afterlife" with Milla Jovovich and Wentworth Miller on September 10. We've already seen the trailer and it so rocks.

Romance, comedy dead on arrival in "Killers"

How do you explain being an assassin to your wife?

An action comedy that nearly renders the term an oxymoron, "Killers" is devoid of suspense and laughs. Doing no favors for stars Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher or the audience, this tired attempt to blend romantic comedy with thrills makes one long for the days when films like "Charade" showed how it could be done. Lionsgate released the film Friday without screening it earlier for the press.



The gorgeous Heigl is improbably cast as Jen, a miserable, recently dumped young woman who resorts to traveling with her parents (Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara) for a vacation in the French Riviera. Immediately upon settling in Nice, she meets the shirtless, hunky Spencer (Kutcher, who with his torso revealed at every opportunity is the real sex object in the movie), and a quick courtship ensues, with Jen unaware that her wooer is not the corporate consultant he claims to be but rather a professional killer working for an unnamed agency.

Cut to three years later, with the now married couple settled into a quiet suburban life and Spencer apparently having given up his former profession. That is, until his 30th birthday, when suddenly he becomes the target of numerous assassination attempts. Predictable chaos ensues, with the couple bickering about their marital situation even while violently grappling with a series of bad guys (and gals) whose surprising identities are supposed to be shocking.

The film, reportedly Lionsgate's most expensive production to date, is elaborate in its European location shooting and copious amount of choreographed mayhem. It's too bad that such effort wasn't expended on the script, which contains nary a single amusing line of dialogue. Instead, the film's idea of humor is to make a running gag of Jen's alcoholic mother's downing drinks at every opportunity.

Despite his impressive physique, the boyish Kutcher is less than convincing in macho mode, and Heigl (on a cinematic downhill streak since "Knocked Up") is reduced to dithering reaction shots. Even comic veteran O'Hara is unable to wrest laughs from the lame material, though Selleck manages to retain his dignity because of his stolid underplaying.

'Guitar Hero' publisher Activision unveils 'Warriors of Rock'

 
Activision has revealed the first details of its next Guitar Hero title, which will feature a redesigned controller and a new story mode.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will release on Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and will feature 90 songs. Activision shared a peek at 24 of the songs on the setlist, shown below:



AFI -- Dancing Through Sunday
Avenged Sevenfold -- Bat Country
Black Sabbath -- Children Of The Grave
Buzzcocks -- What Do I Get?
Children Of Bodom -- If You Want Peace... Prepare For War
The Cure -- Fascination Street
Def Leppard -- Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)
Dethklok -- Bloodlines
DragonForce -- Fury of the Storm
Drowning Pool -- Bodies
Foo Fighters -- No Way Back
Foreigner -- Feels Like The First Time
Jane's Addiction -- Been Caught Stealing
KISS -- Love Gun
Megadeth -- Sudden Death
Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne -- Paranoid (Live)
Muse -- Uprising
My Chemical Romance -- I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
Queen -- Bohemian Rhapsody
Rammstein -- Waidmanns Heil
The Rolling Stones -- Stray Cat Blues
Silversun Pickups -- There's No Secrets This Year
Slayer -- Chemical Warfare
ZZ Top -- Sharp Dressed Man (Live)

A statement from Activision did not specify how the game's guitar peripheral other than it was "inspired and born from the game's unique art style and specifically made for shredding."

The Quest Mode, narrated by KISS' Gene Simmons, features eight characters aiding the Demi God of Rock as they try to save rock 'n roll from "The Beast."

Activision also says most tracks from Guitar Hero: World Tour forward will work with Warriors of Rock. No word on which tracks are involved or a release date for the game.

'Eclipse' Scene: Check Out A Sneak Peek Before MTV Movie Awards!

Last month, when we told you Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner would be on hand at the MTV Movie Awards to present a never-before-seen clip from "Eclipse," fans went wild trying to guess just what footage they'd get. Would it be the part where Edward Cullen proposes to Bella Swan? That much-hyped tent scene that co-star Elizabeth Reaser called a "chaste three-way"?



Well, the full clip won't be unleashed until the Movie Awards this Sunday, but it's just cruel to make you wait that long to find out what you'll be getting on show night. So we pushed and we pulled, we twisted arms and engaged in activities that might be illegal in some countries � and voil�: a teaser clip of the "Eclipse" scene to come.

As you can see by hitting play on the embedded video, the scene features Edward, Bella and Jacob in a parking lot. A bit of this footage cropped up in the trailer that dropped in April, but the full clip promises to show much more than anyone has yet seen.

In the teaser, a concerned-looking Jacob approaches Edward and Bella. "Look, I'm here to warn you," he tells him. "If your kind come on our land again ... "

"You should leave now," Edward responds.

As Twilighters know, the three of them are about to be pulled into an epic confrontation with the nefarious vampire Victoria and her band of newborn bloodsuckers. At the moment, though, both these men who love Bella are still butting heads.

Tune in Sunday night to check out the full clip during the Movie Awards. Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner will be introducing the scene live and in person. What's more, co-star Chaske Spencer will be MTV International's official red-carpet correspondent, reporting live from the scene outside the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, where some of Hollywood's biggest names will be stopping by to chat.

And then, of course, there will be the awards themselves. "New Moon" is up in five categories: Best Movie, Best Female Performance (Stewart), Best Male Performance (Pattinson and Lautner), Best Kiss (Stewart and Pattinson) and Global Superstar (Stewart, Pattinson and Lautner). Fan voting in all these categories is now under way at MovieAwards.MTV.com and will stay open through Saturday. Head over to make sure your favorite stars and movies triumph on the big night.



In THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob � knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

Review: 'Splice' scientists cook up DNA monster

Science fiction. Starring Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody. Directed by Vincenzo Natali. (R. 110 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
It's easy enough to stick with "Splice" for about half of the way. It stars Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody as a team of genetic engineers - you know, like Dr. Frankenstein - and something in their personal dynamic is arresting. Subtly but unmistakably, she is the stronger partner, the one truly gifted and the one most likely to turn out to be off her rocker.



"Splice" capitalizes on Polley's forceful personality, her intelligence and her prickliness, qualities already in evidence when she was a teenager. From her earliest days onscreen, Polley has definitely had something, but she's had precious few chances to show it. This movie doesn't even qualify as a real chance, because it eventually caves in on itself. But at least Polley makes out better than Oscar winner Brody, who spends his time here acting weak and dumbfounded.

Director Vincenzo Natali, who co-wrote the screenplay, was apparently intent on offering "Splice" as a moral investigation into the issue of genetic engineering. Yet, for all its surface seriousness, "Splice" is a regulation monster movie. So however somber it gets, it's never truly thought-provoking, and however outrageous it gets, it's still always 20 minutes behind the audience. It's just too dumb to be serious and too slow to be entertaining.

It does, however, manage to be disgusting, which could have been interesting in a creepy sort of way had the movie wed the ugliness to an overall mood. Here it's just gross: The ambitious doctors create the first genetically concocted life-forms, two blobs the size of badgers. Then Elsa (Polley) gets more ambitious. She takes the blob DNA and combines it with ... human DNA. And the result is some horrible thing that starts out looking like a chicken with a baby's head and then grows into some terrifying bald girl (Delphine Chaneac) with pretty eyes and ghastly birdlike legs.

From here, we more or less know where "Splice" is going, which means that the filmmaker had only two sensible options: He could do the obvious but do it immediately, so as to arrive at some fascinating aftermath the audience doesn't expect. Or he could upend audience expectation and take the story in a complete other direction.

Alas, he does neither. Instead, he over-invests in the story of Elsa and Clive (Brody) and tries to make us care about the psychological dynamic between them and this monster-girl they've created. The strategy fails, as Elsa becomes repellent and Clive becomes, first, a cipher and ultimately, an amazing idiot.

The cave-in becomes complete at the point that we understand why Clive is such a washout - if the filmmaker made him any stronger, Clive would be able to advance the action, but this filmmaker has nowhere for the action to go. He has no new idea.

To his credit, director Natali does include two of the most disgusting sex scenes this side of David Cronenberg, and that's something. But poor Sarah Polley. I thought it couldn't get worse than having sex with the monster in "Beowulf & Grendel," but apparently it can get worse, much worse. Funny how some perfectly nice women just have awful luck with men.
Advisory: This film contains sexual situations, gruesome sights and violence.

James Franco to star in "Rise of the Apes"

James Franco has his damn dirty paws on the lead role in "Rise of the Apes," a prequel to the "Planet of the Apes" franchise.

The Fox feature focuses on a scientist (Franco) who has been testing a cure for Alzheimer's on apes. The test subject named Caesar starts to evolve rapidly, and the scientist takes him home and protects him from cruel doctors.



The story is designed to be show the modern-day event that set in motion the eventual dominance of apes over humans seen the classic 1960s and '70s movies. It is unclear how much of the movie will focus on the ape inciting an ape revolution, but given that Peter Jackson's WETA effects house is on board, the monkey play could be significant.

The apes will not be actors in costumes but rather rendered digitally to be photo-realistic by New Zealand-based WETA, employing certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for "Avatar."

The movie will shoot this summer in British Columbia. Rupert Wyatt is on board to direct.

Franco's credits include the "Spider-Man" films and "Milk."

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse reflect on wrapping up 'Lost'

THEY GET 'LOST': Damon Lindelof, left, and Carlton Cuse.

"Lost" executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse may be the most interrogated men in America. The leaders of "Lost" -- the ABC sci-fi mind-bender that ends its run Sunday -- have spent the better part of six years being bombarded by questions about what's happening on the island. This weekend, they're expected to deliver answers. How are they coping with the pressure? We snagged Q&A time with them in New York and found out.



Are you worried about the finale and how people are going to respond to it? Or are you just trying not to think about it?

Cuse: I think we're actually kind of excited about it. We've known large parts of the finale for a long time and I think it's like we're finally going to get a chance to end the show and see how people respond to it. We're really proud of the finale.

On some level it's hard because how the audience reacts is kind of out of our control. What we can do is basically make the best version of the end of the show that we knew how to do. And we feel like we made the version of the finale we wanted to make.

After the last moment of the show, what would you say is the emotion most people are most likely to feel?

Cuse: I hope sadness. If you go to a movie and it's a great experience, the experience at the end of it is always like this sadness that it's over, that your time with these characters is finished.

Lindelof: There's two things that are going to happen when the show ends. The first feeling is going to be based on what you just watched, the actual content. And the other is the feeling that you have as a result of knowing that the show is actually over. And some people are going to confuse the two.

And I think one of the really brilliant things about "The Sopranos" [finale] as a storyteller is the artistry of it, which Carlton and I have talked about ad nauseum. Basically David Chase said: I'm going to take away from you the first feeling, which is that feeling of "The show's over. How do I feel about that?" -- and he replaced it with "What just happened? Did my cable go out? I'm a little surprised by this." So the idea that the show ended so abruptly, as opposed to, we moved out of the diner and he played the emotion of, ah, this is the final shot of "The Sopranos" -- this is what it is.

We did the exact opposite. We leaned into the emotion. And you know, we tried to take those two feelings and make them the same, which is that what you're watching on the screen is exactly the same as "The show is ending."

After the series ends, you're going into radio silence and not speaking publicly about the finale. Do you know what the statute of limitations on that silence will be?

Cuse: No

Lindelof: The interpretive element of "Lost," the fact that you immediately need as soon as the episode is over to seek out a community of people to express your own thoughts about it, understand what they thought about it and form an opinion, that's the bread and butter of the show. The more we talk about what our intention was, the more we take it away from the audience. And we have no interest in doing that, ever.

The Showbuzz: Shrek Forever After

LeBeouf: Indiana Sequel Criticism feel role and movie was not done properly

Critics were relatively kind about the Shia LeBeouf �Indiana� sequel performance, but panned the �Kingdom of the Crystal Skull� as a whole. Now, the young Transformers star is talking to the press about his disappointment with the movie, and placing the blame on himself, the movie writers, and director Steven Spielberg. Check out the full story, with pictures and video below!



Shia talked to reporters at the Cannes international film festival over the weekend. He said that his own performance was questionable at times during the filming.

Specifically, LeBeouf�s �Indiana� sequel performance suffered during the tree-swinging scenes.

�You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven. The actor�s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn�t do it. So that�s my fault. Simple.�

He said he even spoke with Harrison Ford, and found that he too was underwhelmed.

�We had major discussions. He wasn�t happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn�t universally accepted.�

Is he worried about mouthing off about a legendary director? Apparently not.

�I�ll probably get a call, but he needs to hear this. I love him,� the young actor said. �He�s done so much great work that there�s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball, you drop the ball.�

Shia said that his real worry is about his upcoming Wall Street movie.

�I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved. If I was going to do it twice, my career was over. So this was fight-or-flight for me.�

He said that clearing the air about the �Crystal Skull� would re-establish his credibility with the audience.

�I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you�ve made � . And I think if you don�t acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you�re promoting a movie.�

What did you think of LeBeouf�s �Indiana� sequel performance? Do you like his candid approach to his previous movies? Let me know in the comment section!

Also, check out the pictures and video below!

Noami Watts stars as CIA operative Plame in Cannes film

 
Actress Naomi Watts, left, director Doug Liman, center, and actress Liraz Charhi, right, pose during a photo call for the film "Fair Game", at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 20, 2010


Actress Liraz Charhi, left, and actress Naomi Watts, right, pose during a photo call for the film "Fair Game", at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 20, 2010.

Naomi Watts has gotten used to playing unstable women. But with the Cannes Film Festival entry "Fair Game," Watts is playing a woman as steady as they come in Valerie Plame, whose secret CIA identity was leaked by the George W. Bush administration.

 
Actress Liraz Charhi, left, and actress Naomi Watts, right, pose during a photo call for the film "Fair Game", at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 20, 2010



 
From left, actor Khaled Nabawy, actress Naomi Watts, actress Liraz Charhi, and director Doug Liman, rigjt, pose during a photo call for the film "Fair Game", at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes, southern
France, Thursday, May 20, 2010.




Directed by Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"), "Fair Game" chronicles the battle Plame and husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) fought in the scandal that called into question the White House's rationale for going to war in Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction.

"She's a real woman, and more of a woman than I've ever played thus far. A lot of the material I've been drawn to in the past been about women in some kind of psychosis, since David Lynch," said Watts, referring to Lynch's 2001 Cannes entry "Mulholland Dr.", a career-making role in which the actress starred in a tale of shifting identities and twisting personalities.

"But this woman transcends her psychosis, and not alone," Watts told reporters Thursday before "Fair Game" premiered. "She has this incredible husband, Joe Wilson, who gives her the encouragement and strength and belief that they are strong enough to go forward and tell the truth. And who really would have gone there? I certainly wouldn't have. I couldn't have done it. So I'm just in awe of her strength and her courage."

One of 19 movies competing for the festival's main prize, "Fair Game" arguably is the most politically charged film to play in the Cannes main competition since Michael Moore's war-on-terror documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the top award in 2004.

Beginning in the early days of the U.S. war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks, "Fair Game" traces Plame's background as a covert operative, taking on assumed identities to uncover details about possible weapons programs in Iraq and elsewhere.

After the Bush administration cites a supposed uranium deal involving Iraq, Joe Wilson writes a piece in The New York Times disputing the information, noting how he was dispatched by the U.S. government to Niger in west Africa to investigate the case but found no evidence of a uranium sale.

Soon after, Plame's CIA cover was leaked to the news media. She says her outing came in retaliation for her husband's Times piece.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the Plame investigation. President George W. Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence.

In "Fair Game," Watts' Plame and Penn's Wilson face death threats against their family, hostile criticism from the government and accusations of betraying their country.

Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, fights back in a media campaign against the White House, while Plame refuses to respond publicly to the scandal, which strains their marriage to the breaking point.

"I was so captivated by the character of Valerie Prime and the character of Joe Wilson that I almost forgot it was a true story," Liman said. "She's this incredibly private person, and he's this extroverted, larger-than-life character. And they're married. That's real."

The film is based on the couple's memoirs � Plame's "Fair Game" and Wilson's "The Politics of Truth."

Plame also appeared in the Cannes film "Countdown to Zero," director Lucy Walker's documentary about the continuing danger of nuclear arms. A weapons-proliferation specialist, Plame was among those interviewed about the possibility of terrorist or accidental nuclear detonations.

Though Plame and Wilson were at Cannes for the "Fair Game" premiere, they were not participating in the film's publicity, including a festival press conference.

"She and Joe are both here and are very supportive of the movie. Obviously, part of the story is that they wanted, especially Joe wanted, this story to be told," Liman said. "But this is a film festival, and we were told that in the history of Cannes, they wouldn't normally bring the people on whom the film was based to the press conference. That is the procedure for Cannes."