
Corey Haim dead at 38
Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob for his roles in “Lucas” and “The Lost Boys” whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38. ● More from: HitFix.com
‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ Release Bumped From April 23rd To September 24th
Fox has bumped the upcoming Oliver Stone film “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” from April 23rd all the way to September 24th. ● More from: :: The Playlist :::
Lindsey Graham denounces Liz Cheney advertisement
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham denounced a recent ad questioning the loyalty of Obama administration lawyers who had previously represented suspected terrorists. ● More from: POLITICO.com
CBS’s ‘Late Show’ pulls ahead in late night
After one week, Jay Leno has fallen behind David Letterman in the demo NBC most cares about.
On Monday night, a week after Leno returned to “The Tonight Show,” CBS’s Letterman notched his first nightly victory over his old rival among adults 18-49, though he remained behind in total viewers. ● More from: Media Life Magazine
HotTopic: Bing, Microsoft
Microsoft Bing traffic increased and Yahoo search traffic decreased in February ● More from: FeedFeedFeed
MPAA Cites 3D For Fueling Box Office Spike
Worldwide Box Office Continues To Soar; U.S. Admissions On The Rise 3D gives a boost to box office growth Los Angeles – The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today released its annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for 2009. The report shows that global box office receipts reached an all time high of $29.9 billion, an increase of 7.6% over 2008 and almost 30% from 2005. The U.S./Canada market reached $10.6 billion, an increase of more than 10%, and International receipts increased 6.3% to $19.3 billion in 2009. ● More from: Deadline.com
Pink Floyd, EMI Brawl Over iTunes Royalties
Pink Floyd and its label, EMI, are battling over online royalties stemming from a contested clause in their decade-old contract.
The developer of The Dark Side of the Moon and other top-selling albums claims its contract with EMI requires its music to be sold as an entire album, not the single tracks that EMI has permitted iTunes to distribute. ● More from: Wired.com
What’s an Oscar Worth? It Depends on Your Contract
Win yourself a Nobel Prize, and you know you just scored roughly 1.4 million U.S. dollars. Get a Pulitzer Prize, and you can count on $10,000. But win an Oscar? Your cash prize is more of a crapshoot. When signing on for films that are possible Oscar contenders, actors often have award-triggered bonuses built into their contracts that vary depending on the size of the film. A modest indie production like Crazy Heart — for which Jeff Bridges just won Best Actor — likely came with a $125,000 bump for the nomination and another $125,000 for a win, while a larger studio production, like Avatar, would see those nomination and win figures double or triple. ● More from: Vulture
Moviegoer is stabbed after complaining about cellphone user
A meat thermometer was plunged into the victim’s neck during a screening of ‘Shutter Island.’ An L.A. County sheriff’s spokesman called it a ‘vicious and cowardly attack.’ ● More from: latimes.com
Andy Richter Has Ill Will Toward NBC and Jay Leno
Andy Richter had plenty to say today about NBC’s late-night talk show debacle on ‘Live With Regis and Kelly’ (weekdays, syndicated). The former ‘Tonight Show’ announcer pulled no punches and blamed NBC execs for not honoring their commitment to Conan O’Brien and ‘The Jay Leno Show’ for failing to command ratings and provide a strong lead-in. ● More from: Inside TV
Tatum O’Neal ‘deeply saddened’ by Farrah Fawcett snub at the Oscars
Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences previously explained that the exclusion of Farrah Fawcett in the Oscars’ In Memoriam montage was intentional, Tatum O’Neal seems to think the decision was an outright snub. ● More from: nydailynews.com
Panasonic, Best Buy double down on 3D TV
Panasonic has announced its first 3D TV bundle available exclusively at Best Buy stores, featuring a plasma TV and 3D-compatible Blu-ray player. The bundle will cost $2,900 for a 50-inch TC-P50VT20 TV (a $2,500 value by itself) and 3D-compatible DMP-BDT300 Blu-ray player ($400), and also include one pair of 3D glasses (model TY-EW3D10U, $149). The Panasonic bundle and TVs will be “sold exclusively at select Best Buy stores via Magnolia Home Theater,” according to Panasonic. The 50-inch model will be followed by 54-, 58-, and 65-inch versions later this year, though pricing has yet to be determined. ● More from: Crave – CNET
MySpace readies site overhaul to rekindle growth
With shrinking audiences, deep layoffs and two management shake-ups, MySpace, the one-time leader in Internet social networking, has had a rocky year. ● More from: Reuters
Critics lose 2 powerful voices as Variety cuts film’s Todd McCarthy and theater’s David Roone
In showbiz, timing is everything. It could hardly be a coincidence that the morning after Oscar season mercifully came to a close, Variety laid off its two best-known critics, longtime chief film critic Todd McCarthy and chief theater critic David Rooney. According to Variety President Neil Stiles, the firings were an “economic reality.” ● More from: Los Angeles Times
Kathy Ireland: ‘I wasn’t drunk at the Oscars’
Model-turned-actress Kathy Ireland has hit back at reports she was drunk at Sunday’s Oscars, insisting she was just overjoyed and “grateful” to be invited. ● More from: blog.seattlepi.com
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If you like your cop dramas gritty, dirty and intense then Brooklyn’s Finest is for you. Sure . . lotsa cop cliches, and an urban style that’s very familiar but outstanding performances from Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and particularly Ethan Hawke lift this material into something special for fans of the actors and genre. And I really like the three separate story lines that we follow as they slowly converge. Someone called it New Jack City meets The Wire. That pretty much nails it. Rounding out the cast is Ellen Barkin, Lilli Taylor, Will Patton and speaking of The Wire, Michael K Williams. [ 




No surprises for me tonight at the Academy Awards. I have been saying for months that The Hurt Locker would win the big award. I concede it’s a well made thriller. My problem was that the few Americans who have seen it (only $15 million at the box office and now has only DVD sales) will think it’s an accurate depiction of what the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams do and face in Iraq. It’s not. They rarely wear those heavy suits, they don’t spend a lot of time pulling out scary wires (robots blow up IEDs) and soldiers don’t sneak out of Green Zone on solo missions. I could go on . . . but . . . won’t here. Just to say the “cowboy-ism” of The Hurt Locker borders on disrespecting the real work our troops are doing. (My Best Picture winner wasn’t nominated: Crazy Heart. Of the nominees I would have gone with An Education or Up In The Air.)
Hollywood observer Jeffery Wells over at