Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf Hot Gossips

Sometimes competition on tennis courts can lead to a partnership off the court. HEAD/Penn, a leading manufacturer of sports equipment, has just unveiled its new line of Star Series tennis racquets.

The three-racquet series, which hit store shelves earlier this month, features what's touted as "revolutionary new technologies" that provide more power, control and comfort.

Each racquet also has a unique look and appeal which the manufacture believes "evokes the true spirit of a Champion racquet."

But what's most interesting is this new line of racquets were developed by legendary players Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. The husband-and-wife team worked with experts to design racquets that maximized performance on the court, no matter what the skill level. The Star Series racquets range in price from $180 to $250.

Of course, the idea of celebrity-endorsed tennis racquets is not an entirely new concept.

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Stephanie Seymour in the Victoria Secret Collection

Why do Victoria’s Secret models look pretty much exactly the same after having kids and even gorgeous years after they no longer model for the famous lingerie retailer? Karolina Kurkova was recently spotted with son Tobin, which made me wonder about all the other famous faces (and bodies) that posed for Victoria’s Secret and whether (and how many) children they have. See them now with their kids, including Jill Goodacre, Stephanie Seymour and Heidi Klum.

Jill Goodacre was a famous staple for Victoria’s Secret in the late 1980s and early 90s. She married crooner and actor Harry Connick Jr. and they have three daughters, seen here in November.

Stephanie Seymour has four children, one with first husband guitarist Tommy Andrews and three with second husband Peter Brant, with whom she is going through a rather nasty divorce. She is seen (below bottom) in March on holiday with son Harry and daughter Lily.

Heidi Klum also has four kids (was it in the water on the photos shoots?) and is married to singer Seal. She is seen here with daughter Leni last month.

Tera Patrick Hot Gossips

According to “Popcrunch”, the erótico movie actress Jenna Jameson, well-known as “the Queen of the Porno”, is the person within the pornographic industry that greater income she has had throughout his race. Tera Patrick and Jesse James completes podio.

Jameson, who now dedicates itself to the enterprise world, has rolled 140 films for adults and has been the protagonist of two videojuegos. In addition, 2006 porno in having a wax retort became the leading lady in the prestigious Museum Madame Tussauds.

After Jenna, the vestibule “Popcrunch” named to Tera Patrick like second woman who more money has won with porno. Third in discord she is Jesse James.

In the fourth position he appears the Ron New Yorker Jeremy, who precedes to Maria Takagi and Hillary Scott, villa and sixth respectively.

The seventh and last bench is for Kimberley Halsey, better well-known like Houston, who got to receive a million dollars to the year.

At the present time the woman of 41 years dedicates itself to the Christianity of XXX Church, a religious grouping that helps to the old film actors porno or to the addict ones to the pornography.

Nick Swisher engaged to Joanna Garcia

New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher is engaged to 'Privileged' star Joanna Garcia. The two are ready to tie the knot, though no details about the wedding have been released yet.

Swisher confirmed the news on Friday, when he told reporters that he had been engaged to Garcia since May 19. However, they let the speculation build for sometime before going public with the news.

"We kept it a secret for a while," said Swisher. "She was wearing that big rock, though."

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Crystal Bowersox says she's Excited

Crystal Bowersox says she never considered herself to be American Idol's ninth-season frontrunner and was simply satisfied to remain in the competition as long as she did.

"I was just happy to get past the stadium and the next week and the next. You never know what's going to happen in a competition like this, and it's really up to the voting public," she told Reality TV World during a Friday media conference call.

"My approach to the whole thing was just to remain true to who I am as a person and an artist and just give my best personal performance each week and whatever the outcome was I was prepared to accept and embrace and move forward in my career. Coming in second is an amazing feat in itself. This whole thing has just been an amazing journey."

The 24-year-old from Toledo, OH was defeated by Lee Dewyze -- who was crowned American Idol's ninth-season winner during Wednesday night's live finale broadcast on Fox.

During the call, Bowersox reiterated that she'd had a feeling that Dewyze was going to win on Wednesday morning.

"I just had an overwhelming sense of peace and acceptance. Just some strange feeling inside of me, I knew Lee was going to win," she told reporters.

"I was fine with that because he's worked so hard. No matter the outcome of this, there's no winner or loser. We're both going to have very successful careers and I couldn't be prouder of him."

Despite her feeling, Bowersox said she still wanted to hear the actual results from American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

"I wanted to know for sure. I wanted to know if my feeling was right and I wanted to celebrate for Lee. When I saw Lee's face and he was about ready to pass out, I just felt everything he was feeling. We had been together this whole process and understand each other completely and how much we've worked for it," she explained.

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Dennis Hopper died at 74

Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic "Easy Rider," died on Saturday at his home in Venice, California, from complications of prostate cancer, a friend told Reuters. Hopper was 74.

The hard-living screen icon died at 8:15 a.m. PT, surrounded by family and friends, said the friend, Alex Hitz.

The two-time Oscar nominee, who appeared in more than 100 films, last March got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, saying he came to Hollywood from his native Kansas at 18, "so that was my college."

"Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from Hollywood," he said. "This has been my home and my schooling."

In a wildly varied career spanning more than 50 years, Hopper appeared alongside his mentor James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" in the 1950s and played maniacs in such films as "Apocalypse Now," "Blue Velvet" and "Speed."

He received two Oscar nominations — for writing "EasyRider" (with co-star Peter Fonda and Terry Southern), and for a rare heartwarming turn as an alcoholic high-school basketball coach in the 1986 drama "Hoosiers."

"Easy Rider," regarded is one of the greatest films of American cinema, helped usher in a new era in which the old Hollywood guard was forced to cede power to young filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

The low-budget blockbuster, originally conceived by Fonda, introduced mainstream moviegoers to pot-smoking, cocaine-dealing, long-haired bikers.

"We'd gone through the whole '60s and nobody had made a film about anybody smoking grass without going out and killing a bunch of nurses," Hopper told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. "I wanted 'Easy Rider' to be a time capsule for people about that period."

Heidi Montag Hot Gossips

Last Tuesday, "The Hills" starlet Heidi Montag left many a little confused after tweeting, "I am not Heidi Pratt, I am Heidi Montag" - but as it turns out, the 23-year-old is reportedly leaving her husband of 19 months, Spencer Pratt.

"Heidi is looking to move out due to all the fake bad press that Spencer controls. She's tired of it and is looking for a place and wants to focus on her acting career," a rep for Montag told TMZ, adding that she's currently searching for her own home in Malibu.

It certainly has been a tumultous marriage for the two - just recently they called the cops on Montag's mom who apparently showed up at their house uninvited, and earlier this year Pratt found himself in deep trouble for allegedly making terroristic threat against producers of the MTV reality show.

And a few weeks ago, a rep for Pratt told Pop Tarts that the two were doing their best to stay out of the spotlight in an attempt to restore their not-so-positive public profile.

"Due to all the negative press lately, they have decided to lay low for a while," said his rep.

A source close to the couple isn't surprised by the split, but surprised Miss Montag is finally making the move.

"I'm so happy for her," said our insider. "He was such a bad influence."

Another Pratt family friend agreed.

"I think the American public would agree they're better off apart. Heidi is off in her own crazy little world and Spencer is certifiably insane," said the source. "Heidi was his little puppet and its great that she is finally (separating from him). Their relationship always seemed so forced."

Kanye Wests Hip Hop

While many layers to sleep Thursday night, Kanye West stated that his break is over as his new single, “Power”, hit the Internet. We do not have much of Ye seen since he explained why he interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 Video Music Awards in September last year on Jay Leno’s now defunct prime-time show.

West told Leno that he is taking time out. Indeed he did, but the past few months, we’ve heard Kanye on working in Hawaii with renowned producers such as Pete Rock, Q-Tip and DJ Premier. He was also producing tracks for the will of Rick Ross and Clipse. And he recently appeared in New York to preview new songs. <= span calibri "" sans-serif = ""> “Power is the worldwide appeal we are used to Kanye.

The beat is furious drums and guitars, a bass line that your body slams and ears epic puns that textual releases his frustration. “I live in the 21st century, to mean something,” said he starts rapping. “Do it better than anyone you have ever seen do / screams of the haters, I have a nice ring to IT / I think every superhero needs his theme music.”

“No man should have that ability,” he continues in the choir. “The clock is ticking’s / I just count the hours / Stop trippin ‘, I Trippin ‘out of the power / f — up than that! / The world is ours. “Then comes the vocal sample of the British rock band King Crimson’s” 21st Century Schizoid Man. “

Mike Newell and Jerry Bruckheimer in 'Prince of Persia'

Reporting from London Mike Newell, the director of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," the latest pyrotechnic display from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, is standing on a brick path in his English garden when he poses a question to his wife.

"Darling, can I make green tea in this pot?" the 68-year-old filmmaker, clad in tissue-thin blue slacks and black slippers, asks in a lilting accent before popping through a door and into the kitchen. Several minutes later, he emerges with a pitcher of tea and two saucers, his 6-foot-3 frame ambling past the hanging ivy and tinkling fountain that adorn the backyard of his home near Primrose Hill in North London.

If this domestic scene seems a little incongruous — more suited to a starchy British novel than the CG flash of a $200-million summer action movie — it's for good reason. It would be hard to find a stranger cinematic pairing than Newell, the filmmaking spirit guide behind intimate character studies such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Donnie Brasco" and "Enchanted April," and Bruckheimer, the spirit guide behind such extravagant noisefests as "Armageddon" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

In fact, the director himself was a little perplexed by the matchup and questioned whether he might be the wrong man for the job after he took it. "I said to Jerry, 'I think you might have gotten the casting wrong,' " Newell recalls. That Newell had previously stewarded a franchise film, 2005's " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," did little to relieve his concerns.

"I felt comfortable with 'Harry Potter' because it was an English schoolboy story, and I knew that world well," Newell says as he takes a seat at a wooden table in the garden. "I didn't know ' Prince of Persia' at all.' "

The fruits of Newell's education goes on full view this weekend, as Disney releases "Prince of Persia" around the country, after a release-date postponement of nearly a year and an executive housecleaning that saw the deposal of many of the studio officials who shepherded the movie.

Based on a popular video game from creator Jordan Mechner (who was also involved in developing the film) and a script from Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, "Prince of Persia" concerns a prince named Dastan ( Jake Gyllenhaal) who is framed for the murder of his father, prompting him to flee to the desert. It also tracks Dastan's relationship with his two brothers (Richard Coyle and Toby Kebbell), his prickly courtship of an enemy princess (Gemma Arterton), a complicated dynamic with his uncle Nizam ( Ben Kingsley) who may or may not be Dastan's ally and — naturally — a dagger with the ability to turn back time.

As many of the reviews have noted, the film contains plenty of Bruckheimer trademarks with just scattered touches of Newell; overflowing with grand spectacle, effects-heavy battles and emotional crescendos, while sprinkling in only a few dollops of character (as a street urchin who is adopted into a royal family, Dastan evinces both toughness and vulnerability), and cinematographic nuance.

If there is an imbalance between Bruckheimer and Newell influences, there's a reason for that too. The collaboration was not without its hiccups, in particular, a creative disagreement between Newell and Bruckheimer that led to the hiring of an outside editor, Michael Kahn, to work on the film for several weeks, without Newell's involvement, after the director had turned in his cut. "I had been very happy with the stuff I had produced but Jerry clearly wasn't," Newell recalls. "What he said was, 'My ... detector goes off.' "

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Gary Coleman Died at 42

Gary Coleman, the adorable, pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood's D-list, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42.

Coleman was taken off life support and died with family and friends at his side, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said.

He suffered the brain hemorrhage Wednesday at his Santaquin home, 55 miles south of Salt Lake City. Frank said Coleman was hospitalized because of an accident at the home, but she had no further details.

Coleman's family, in a statement read by his brother-in-law Shawn Price, said information would be released shortly about his death.

Best remembered for "Diff'rent Strokes" character Arnold Jackson and his "Whatchu talkin' 'bout?" catchphrase, Coleman chafed at his permanent association with the show but also tried to capitalize on it through reality shows and other TV appearances.

His adult life was marked with legal, financial and health troubles, suicide attempts and even a 2003 run for California governor.

"I want to escape that legacy of Arnold Jackson," he told The New York Times during his gubernatorial run. "I'm someone more. It would be nice if the world thought of me as something more."

A statement from the family said he was conscious and lucid until midday Thursday, when his condition worsened and he slipped into unconsciousness. Coleman was then placed on life support.

"It's unfortunate. It's a sad day," said Todd Bridges, who played Coleman's older brother, Willis, on "Diff'rent Strokes."

"Diff'rent Strokes" debuted on NBC in 1978 and drew most of its laughs from Coleman, then a tiny 10-year-old with sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing.

He played the younger of two African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man. Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up.

Lindsay Lohan Unvieled her Porn Star Poster

Lindsay Lohan, who's been juggling movie premieres, nightclubbing and court hearings – sure knows how to take the attention off her legal woes: By releasing a set of racy movie posters for the upcoming biopic Inferno, in which she'll play infamous porn star Linda Lovelace, star of 1972’s Deep Throat.

Celeb photographer Tyler Shields, a favorite among the young Hollywood set, took the pictures of Lohan. He tells PEOPLE, "Lindsay is amazing to work with we have done it a few times and each time it gets better!"

The sexy photos depict a brunette Lohan (she went blonde this week) in various states of undress striking sultry poses. The images are in stark contrast to paparazzi photos of Lohan on Wednesday, showing her wearing wide-leg jeans to cover the alcohol monitoring bracelet she's now required to wear. No word yet on whether the bracelet will interfere with her filming schedule.

Gary Coleman Hospitalized

Former "Diff'rent Strokes" child star Gary Coleman was listed in "critical condition" in a Utah hospital on Thursday after reportedly injuring his head.

A spokeswoman for Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo declined to reveal anything beyond his condition, but said his family could release more information on Friday.

Coleman, 42, was hospitalized on Wednesday, after suffering what his brother-in-law told TMZ.com was a head injury after a fall. A spokesman for Coleman did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

Coleman, who lives in the nearby town of Santaquin, has already been to the hospital twice this year for seizure-related maladies. He also spent the night behind bars in January after being arrested at his home on domestic violence charges.

Alicia Keys expecting a baby

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz confirmed late Thursday (May 27) they are engaged and expecting their first child together.

The musicians "are expecting a baby and are engaged to be married in a private ceremony later this year," reps for the couple said.

Keys and Swizz Beatz (real name: Kasseem Dean) have had a musical partnership for years, collaborating on Keys' albums and, last year, on Whitney Houston's comeback single "Million Dollar Bill." Swizz spoke with MTV News in July about collaborating with his now-fiancée on Houston's album.

"At the time, I was working on some stuff with Alicia," Swizz said. "I was like, 'We need to bring Whitney back. We need to do some stuff to support Whitney.' Then Alicia was like, 'I love Whitney, she's an icon. I would love to be a part of that.' I started vibing on different things. I didn't want to come with anything that would make her sound too old or too young. That's when I got the vibe to do something that had, like, a disco feel, but still with the hard drums on it — still musical but moving. I wanted to do something that was instant when it came on. Then I played the idea for Alicia to make sure I wasn't bugging out. 'Am I going too far with this?' She was like, 'Nah. That can be a big smash.' "

It will be the first marriage and child for Keys, while Swizz was previously married to singer Mashonda and has two sons, Kasseem Jr. and Prince, from previous relationships.

A couple of years ago, when Swizz announced his divorce, rumors swirled that Keys was behind the breakup. The producer denied those reports when MTV News spoke to him in June 2008. "Everybody can have their fun right now talking that dumb sh-- about my divorce and all that," he said. "I'mma give them something to talk about. People get divorced every f---in' day. They need to worry about more serious things."

Lee Dewyze signs record deals

One day after the American Idol finale, winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox have already signed their record deals. Billboard reports that Lee has signed to 19 Recordings Limited and RCA Records, while Crystal's contract is with 19 Recordings Limited and Jive Records. No word yet on when the albums will be released, but, if it's anything like years past, look for a fourth-quarter release, most likely in November.

Crystal is orders of magnitude better singing her own original material than doing cover songs or singing the dreck from other writers. If her first CD is not full of originals, I'll be surprised and disappointed. Those who think she is a Joplin wannabe are quite wrong. She can do Joplin well, and clearly that is one influence, but her original material is far better and more marketable. Those clucking that she is not as marketable as Lee are about to be proven musically ignorant.

I don't know about that guy's crack about "Bowersox Nation", whatever that is. All I know is that she is a smokin' talent. What others think is their own business, but artistry is not defined by how many people are on some hypothetical bandwagon. That only correlates with financial success, not artistic success.

Sex and the City-2 - Movie Review

"Sex and the City" is, was and always will be for the fans. The first movie, like the raunchy HBO series on which it was based, could be appreciated on its own hedonistic terms, but "Sex and the City 2" -- an enervated, crass and gruesomely caricatured trip to nowhere -- seems conceived primarily to find new and more cynical ways to abuse the loyalty of its audience.

That is evident from the first strained moments, as the movie picks up the story of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) two years after the last film ended. Carrie, happily married to Mr. Big (Chris Noth), has been feathering their handsome Upper East Side nest, while the others navigate motherhood, careers and menopause.

As the story takes them, inexplicably, to a freebie junket in Abu Dhabi, the script visits one indignity after another upon "the girls," from Miranda's desperate whoops of fake glee to convince herself she's having fun to Samantha's compulsive penchant for dirty puns.

While the show and first movie managed to thread a tricky needle between the traditionally girly concerns of clothes, shoes and romance and a far more sober, clear-eyed view of female solidarity and autonomy, "Sex and the City 2" uses feminist arguments to preempt the criticism it so richly deserves.

Thus Carrie & Co. can run amok in Abu Dhabi, dressed like the offspring of Barnum & Bailey and Alexis Carrington, making jokes about burqas and, in Samantha's case, engaging in exhibitionistic displays that border on the psychotic, but to disapprove of their behavior is tantamount to punishing female desire -- or, in the film's preferred trope, "silencing their voice."

The more strenuously "Sex and the City 2" tries to become a parable of trans-national sisterhood, the more patronizing and self-important the movie becomes, and the more its protagonists come to resemble shrill female impersonators. When Carrie expresses disbelief that a woman in full abaya can still enjoy a french fry, the veiled woman in question would be forgiven for taking in Carrie's own insane get-up and wondering who's the more sartorially oppressed.

Casting aside the filmmakers' breathtaking cultural insensitivity, their astonishing tone-deaf ear for dialogue and pacing, and their demented, self-serving idea of female empowerment, the biggest sin of "Sex and the City 2" is its lack of beauty. It's garish when it should be sumptuous, tacky when it should be luxe, wafer-thin when it should be whip-smart and sophisticated.

This movie makes a mockery of the surface pleasures that the original series could always be counted on to provide. The fans most likely will still flock to "Sex and the City 2," but they may feel as if they're being punished for their devotion.

* R. At area theaters. Contains strong sexual content and profanity. 140 minutes

John Travolta Hot Gossips

Could it be a double dose of baby news for John Travolta and Kelly Preston?
Not so, a rep for the couple has told Access Hollywood.

According to a report by Star Magazine on Wednesday, the star couple — who announced last week that they were expecting a “new addition” to their family — would be welcoming not one, but two, new babies to their family.

“They were ecstatic when they thought they were having just one baby,” a source reportedly told the tabloid. “Now that there will be two, they can barely contain their happiness!”

However, in a statement to Access Hollywood later in the day on Wednesday, a rep for the Travoltas shot down the report.

“Totally false,” the rep told Access. “It’s not true. They are not having twins.”

Jack Bauer turns Fugitive

A few weeks ago, Howard Gordon, longtime producer of Fox’s real-time thriller 24, said that audiences shouldn’t expect a happy ending for its central antihero, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). I can’t imagine why anyone would have expected anything but a dour denouement for a character who was always steeped in tragedy—constantly watching colleagues and loved ones die around him, torturing leads out of suspects at the cost of his own peace, perpetually on the verge of suicide. I saw a sad conclusion for Bauer coming miles away, but I hoped for a more optimistic ending for President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), who by the final seconds of 24 is disgraced for participating in a cover-up and on the verge of submitting her resignation. Over the course of eight seasons of 24, buildings and cars and entire city blocks were destroyed by all manner of weapon. But it can be argued that nothing sustained more damage in 24 than the image of the presidency.

It didn’t start out this way. The show got its first president in season two, when David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), the candidate Bauer was protecting in season one, ascended to leader of the free world. Palmer was cut from the same idealistic cloth as Josiah “Jed” Bartlet (Martin Sheen), the too-good-to-be-true head of state in The West Wing. Palmer was steady in times of crisis, firm but not a pugilist, with natural leadership skills and charisma. In season two, members of his administration tried to persuade him to mount a military response to a terrorist threat, but Palmer would not be swayed. When they attempted to overthrow him and usurp his authority—which they did, temporarily—he returned to power and forgave everyone rather than hold a grudge. In a recent interview, Haysbert talked about how fans of the show would come up to him on the street and tell him they wished he could be the real president. Then things changed.

By season three, Palmer was still as principled, but got involved in so many shady dealings that by the end of the season, he had withdrawn from his reelection campaign. His opponent, John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) was in office for the majority of season four, but the audience didn’t get much of a chance to know him—he was killed when a rogue fighter pilot shot Air Force One out of the sky. That left his sniveling vice president, Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), to graduate to the Oval Office. Logan was so antsy and possessed judgment so unsound that Palmer had to be called in to consult him. Then the state of the presidency really went downhill. Palmer was killed by an assassin, part of a grand conspiracy that could be traced back to President Logan himself. When Logan’s complicity was exposed, he was forced to resign, and was replaced by Palmer’s younger brother Wayne (D. B. Woodside). Following a lengthy hiatus imposed by the Hollywood writers’ strike, 24 returned with Taylor as president, marking the show’s first female presidency. This would have been a nice stroke, a what-if dramatization for Hillary Clinton supporters, if Taylor weren’t such a flighty nitwit. The actions that led to her decision to resign in the finale stemmed from a troubling tendency to blindly follow the most recent suggestion from one of her male advisers.

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Sarah Ferguson Hot Gossips

Sarah Ferguson yesterday brushed off the cash for access scandal to promote her children's books and even declare she was "proud" to be Fergie.

The disgraced Duchess of York braved the crowds just days after being exposed asking an undercover reporter for £500,000 to meet her ex-husband Prince Andrew.

She told supporters at Book Expo America in New York: "It is a treat for me to be here today. As you all know I really do not like grown-ups, I prefer children. At the end of the day I am a foghorn for silent whispers, I am a children's book author, I am Sarah Ferguson, I am a mum and I am very proud of that." The 50-year-old also joked that she should take a leaf out of her own "helping hands" books in the wake of the scandal.

In a clear reference to being rumbled in the tabloid sting, she said: "One of the books is called Ashley Learns About Strangers."

But Fergie refused to answer questions on whether she would flee permanently to the US to escape the shame, despite being forgiven by Andrew.

Lord Digby Jones, who works with Andrew promoting British trade, said the prince would be "devastated" by the effect the scandal may have on Britain's reputation abroad.

Lindsay Lohan is back with the Blonde Hair

The old saying goes that blondes have more fun. Perhaps that’s what Lindsay Lohan was counting on when she said goodbye to her raven-colored hair and reverted back to golden tresses this week.

The newly towheaded starlet-cum-designer–who was recently ordered to wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet after failing to appear in court on Thursday–sported similar buttery waves three years ago, around the same time she voluntarily wore another SCRAM ankle bracelet. Coincidence? We can’t be sure, but if the 23-year-old’s gone blonde for a little pick-me-up amid troubled times, she does seem to be enjoying her new do. Tell us: Do you like Lindsay Lohan’s new blonde locks?

Sandra Bullock at the MTV Awards

Sandra Bullock will be making her first public appearance since it became known that her husband had been having an affair at the MTV Movie Awards. She has largely been absent from functions like this since the news first broke, but has been spotted going for several hikes on trails in the woods. MTV announced today that Bullock would be receiving the “MTV Generation Award” for her portrayals of a number of different characters throughout her career.

The awards will be taking place June 6. Bullock has said that she is happy to be given the award. The official context of the award is “her riveting and diverse contributions to the film industry and for entertaining generations of the MTV audience over the last two decades.”

Bullock had been planning to attend the event anyway, according to her representatives. She was not expecting to be given MTV’s highest honor, but is reportedly very happy that she was even considered for the award. Past recipients for the award include Ben Stiller, Adam Sander, Mike Myers, Tom Cruise, and Jim Carrey. The award has been primarily given to comedians, although many of the comedians who have received the award have also taken part in a number of other roles that were less comedic. For instance, Jim Carrey was heavily applauded for his role in “The Truman Show,” and Ben Stiller has taken part in a number of films that are considered dramas.

Nicole Scherzinger Hot Gossips

All season long, Nicole Scherzinger and her partner, Derek Hough, out-tangoed, out-quick stepped and out paso dobled the competition. During the Dancing With the Stars finale Tuesday night, the two earned the distinction of unanimous praise from all three of the judges, who called the pop singer the best dancer in the show’s history.

“I’m totally emotional,” Hough told PEOPLE moments after the show ended. “Nicole and I burst out into tears backstage after our Argentine tango. We were so overwhelmed with how happy we were with what was going on tonight. Win, lose, draw we were going to be happy. But to win is phenomenal.”

“I’m kind of speechless right now,” confessed Scherzinger, who helped Hough earn his second mirror ball trophy (he captured the season six title with new co-host Brooke Burke). “I’m going to go into a room and cry. It’s not about the trophy. It’s beyond the trophy. The experience and the challenge and everything you go through — it’s a lot of life-changing experiences in three months and it’s just so intense.”

And the pair may work together again, Hough says, laughing. Scherzinger is working on a solo album and Hough “will be in the back in the videos wearing my lime green rhinestones,” she says.

Meanwhile, there were no hard feelings from talented runners-up Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya.

“We feel like we haven’t left anything on the table,” Lysacek said. “We all gave it our best shot, but Derek and Nicole were the best from day one. They inspired all of us and kept it going week after week and we’re very happy for them.”

ESPN correspondent Erin Andrews clung to partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy after the show, grateful for his friendship and support.

“I was a mess when I came here,” Andrews, the victim of a stalking scandal, said, her eyes welling with tears. “He was exactly what I needed.”

Like Lysacek, Andrews was thrilled to compete in the finale, and humbled by the experience.

“I am one of the best at what I do and you come into this and all of a sudden you’re not the best any more,” she said. “You just feel insecure, humbled, you’re getting criticized and corrected and it was a lot of medicine to swallow. And I had a lot to deal with off the ballroom floor. It was the perfect thing to happen to me.”

“And the season flew by,” Chmerkovskiy says. “It was blur, blur, blur. Scream, scream, loud noises, and the winner is Derek and Nicole! This did not feel like three months, it felt like three weeks.”

And, adds Lysacek, “I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

Bret Michaels performs at the American Idol Finale

According to Bret Michaels, his surprise performance Wednesday night (May 26) on the "American Idol" season finale was much-needed musical therapy.

Anticipation built quickly in the audience when the familiar guitar chords of one of Michaels' biggest hits with his group Poison, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," began and he later emerged on stage with top-three finalist Casey James.

"I needed to be here and do this because it's been two months since I played," the rocker said backstage at the Nokia Theatre shortly after his performance. "It's been a month and a half in the hospital. It was such an amazing feeling to come out here and jam with Casey. I didn't tell [my doctors] I was going to do this. I just told them I was doing the 'Celebrity Apprentice' finale. They're going to find out in a minute. But I feel great, I gotta be honest. There's still a lot of pain I'm still experiencing. [But] except for a little hitch ... my left side from the ... stroke, I feel amazing."

Last month the singer and reality show star was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage and was rushed to the hospital again last week because of a "warning stroke." On Sunday he appeared on the "Celebrity Apprentice" finale and was named the victor, and he says that he's ready to hit the road again.

"I can't believe my family let me out. I may not have told them either; I left a few things out," he joked. "But I needed this for my soul. Honestly. It was a great experience."

He said that he plans to perform again as soon as Friday in Biloxi, Mississippi.

"[I'm going to] do a few shows at a time. If it works out, great. If it doesn't, I'll start again," he said.

Michaels also reflected on lessons he learned while hospitalized. "I've always tried to treat people with respect and I've always tried to treat people great. I enjoy every day — every minute I'm here is awesome."

Michaels joked that he wasn't exactly sure what he would be doing, now that he's won the title of "Celebrity Apprentice." He also said that he initially didn't know if he was hired or fired by Donald Trump.

"I leaned in and said, 'Did you say hired or fired?' I didn't know what he said. I just jumped up. I thought, 'Trump, you're not going to fire me right now. I'm on medication. I flew a long way. Holly is amazing. She's a fierce competitor,' " he said of his co-finalist, Holly Robinson Peete. "I didn't ask Trump 'What does being "Celebrity Apprentice" entail? Do you get paid? Is there cash involved?' But what do you gotta do for him? Hopefully, you get to do a lot of charity fundraising. If that's what it is, I'm going to love it."

And as for that hospital stay?

"I've spent the last month and a half in the hospital. I don't ever want to see a hospital again," he said. "I just want to go out and have a great time."

Art Linkletter dies at 97

Art Linkletter, the genial host who parlayed his talent for the ad-libbed interview into two of television’s longest-running shows, “People Are Funny” and “House Party,” in the 1950s and 1960s, died on Wednesday at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 97.

The death was confirmed by Art Hershey, a son-in-law.

From his early days as an announcer on local radio and a roving broadcaster at state fairs, Mr. Linkletter showed a talent for ingratiating himself with his subjects and getting them to open up, often with hilarious results.

He was particularly adept at putting small children at ease, which he did regularly on a segment of “House Party,” a reliably amusing question-and-answer session that provided the material for his best-selling book “Kids Say the Darndest Things!”

Television critics and intellectuals found the Linkletter persona bland and his popularity unfathomable. “There is nothing greatly impressive, one way or the other, about his appearance, mannerisms, or his small talk,” one newspaper critic wrote. Another referred to his “imperishable banality.”

Millions of Americans disagreed. They responded to his wholesome, friendly manner and upbeat appeal. Women, who made up three-quarters of the audience for “House Party,” which was broadcast in the afternoon, loved his easy, enthusiastic way with children.

“I know enough about a lot of things to be interesting, but I’m not interested enough in any one thing to be boring,” Mr. Linkletter told The New York Post in 1965. “I’m like everybody’s next-door neighbor, only a little bit smarter.”

He was also genuinely curious to know what was going on in the heads of the people he interviewed. “You have to listen,” he said. “A lot of guys can talk.”

Gordon Arthur Kelly was born on July 17, 1912, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Before he was a month old he was abandoned by his parents and adopted by Fulton John and Mary Metzler Linkletter, a middle-age couple whose two children had died. It was not until he was 12, while rummaging through his father’s desk, that he discovered he was adopted.

In his autobiography, “Confessions of a Happy Man,” Mr. Linkletter recalled his adoptive father, a one-legged cobbler and itinerant evangelist, as “a strange, uncompromising man whose main interest in life was the Bible.” The family prayed and performed on street corners, with Art playing the triangle.

By the time Art was 5 the family had moved to an unpaved adobe section of San Diego. As a child he took on any job he could find. At one point he sorted through lemons left abandoned in piles outside a packing plant, cleaned them off and sold them for 6 cents a dozen.

After graduating from high school at 16, Mr. Linkletter decided to see the world. With $10 in his pocket, he rode freight trains and hitchhiked around the country, working here and there as a meatpacker, a harvester and a busboy in a roadhouse.

“Among other things, I learned to chisel rides on freight trains, outwit the road bulls, cook stew with the bindlestiffs and never to argue with a gun,” he later recalled. A fast typist, he found work in a Wall Street bank just in time to watch the stock market crash in 1929. He also shipped out to Hawaii and Rio de Janeiro as a merchant seaman.

After returning to California, he entered San Diego State Teachers College (now San Diego State University) with plans of becoming an English teacher. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1934, but in his last year he was hired to do spot announcements by a local radio station, KGB, a job that led to radio work at the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego and at similar fairs in Dallas and San Francisco.

With microphone in hand and countless programming hours to fill, Mr. Linkletter relied on ad-libbing, stunts and audience participation to get attention and keep listeners entertained. He was once lowered from a skyscraper in a boatswain’s chair, interviewing office workers on every floor as he descended. “It was the forced feeding of a young and growing M.C.,” he later said of his more than 9,000 fair broadcasts.

Prince Of Persia - Movie Review

Jake Gyllenhaal is never quite right as Dastan, but Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and the visual effects and camerawork impress.

With apologies to Ben Franklin, the only things certain in life are death, taxes and that a Jerry Bruckheimer film will do its bombastic best to pummel, pound and, now, parkour you into submission. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is all that — deaths by the thousands and the sort of spectacular spectacle possible with a rumored budget of $150 million and change.

But it should be more.

I realize it's risky business to ask Bruckheimer for "more," but in a world where action trumps, well, everything, there should be more of those white-knuckle, gut-wrenching feelings churning around somewhere, and there aren't, even with the death-defying, street-style gymnastics of parkour in nearly every scene. I think it's because the movie's most special prince of Persia, Jake Gyllenhaal's Dastan, is just too pretty — you know even with betrayal in the air and barbarians at the gate, no one is going to mess with that face.

Loosely based on Jordan Mechner's video game and infused with 6th century Persian fables and fantasy, director Mike Newell dives right into the crowded middle of a dusty marketplace, where an orphan boy, the aforementioned Dastan, saves a friend from all the king's men.

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He will eventually change the course of history too, but before he can do that, the boy (Will Foster) must run for his life, which turns into a mind-blowing leaping, bounding, tumbling primer in the seemingly impossible athletic aesthetic of parkour. It's dazzling to watch and even impresses the king (Ronald Pickup), who promptly plucks Dastan off the streets and adds him to the royal family, joining older brothers Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) and uncle Nizam ( Ben Kingsley). With that, all the internecine pieces are in place for an ill wind to blow.

Whatever subtlety Newell has brought to his films thus far ("Donnie Brasco" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" come to mind), he has shelved it for "Prince of Persia," though the writers Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard most certainly had a hand. Sometimes the film suffers for it; when passion elicits laughs, you know things have gotten off track. But at other times it's just silly fun, particularly with Sheik Amar, Alfred Molina's tax-resisting renegade, with his illegal ostrich races, his black market double-dealing and his tax tirades (between this and "Robin Hood," you would think Hollywood was run by the "tea party").

With Molina providing comic relief, the rest of the story gets serious about the future of Persia, to say nothing of mankind. That is never an easy task, and "Prince of Persia" is no exception. There's a holy city the brothers have breeched on a bad weapons-trading tip, an angry king, an inside traitor (and no doubt an inside trader or two), an assassination, a secret killing crew and a very feisty princess (Gemma Arterton).

Princess Tamina, who rules the holy city that the princes seized, is also the guardian of a secret mystery, the sands of time, which really come in handy in a pinch. As does Arterton's performance, a balance of passion, beauty and high spirits that in many scenes saves the day.

At the heart of the race and chase of the movie is a magical dagger. It has a nifty ruby red jewel to push "in case of emergency" that uses the mythical sand to transport whomever is holding it into a shape-shifting electrical storm that sends them back a minute or so to undo whatever bad deeds have been done. But as we all know from reading fairy tales and watching cable, powerful devices in the wrong hands make for major problems.

This being a story from olden times, the weapons of mass destruction are a zillion different kinds of sharp, pointy things that are constantly clipping ears, arms and heads, and embedding themselves in chests. The villains who wield most of them also dabble in dark arts and have killer snakes with magical powers that are so lame that they seem like Halloween leftovers at Wal-Mart.

Still, respect must be paid for all the many things the production designers, the effects specialists and the stunt guys did right. Framed by the exquisite eye of director of photography John Seale, who won an Oscar for "The English Patient," they work together to create a visually mesmerizing display. It's like two hours of July 4th fireworks, only with flying swords and sandstorms, and raging battles and mystical palaces rising out of the desert.

Shifting sands are the perfect place for heroes and villains to lose their footing, and there are many who stumble and fall as Dastan fights the good fight and falls in love. Which brings us back to the conundrum of Gyllenhaal.

He has proved himself a fine actor, with his closet cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain" still his defining moment. In Prince Dastan, he is supposed to be that heady mix of street smarts, roguish charm and barroom moxie with the noble heart of a lion underneath. It's a lot to ask and turns out to be something more than he can deliver. There's just a frothiness to Gyllenhaal that he can't seem to suppress — it even lurks behind Dastan's sneer — and it never fails to take the edge off. Too bad. That leaves us with a prince in need, when what we really need is prince indeed.

DeWyze wins the American Idol

Lee DeWyze, a paint store clerk who overcame his shyness to impress "American Idol" judges and viewers with his spirit and soulful voice, triumphed Wednesday over bluesy musician Crystal Bowersox in the contest's ninth season.
When asked by host Ryan Seacrest how he felt, an emotional DeWyze said, "I don't know. It's amazing, thank you, guys, so much ... I love you. Crystal, I love you."
The finalists had closely matched fan bases, with just a 2 percent voting gap between them coming into the finale, Seacrest said. DeWyze's victory was based on votes cast after Tuesday's performance show, which drew more judges' compliments for Bowersox, 24, of Toledo, Ohio, than for DeWyze, also 24, of Mount Prospect, Ill.
The total number of votes cast in the finale weren't announced by Seacrest. That's a departure from most years past: Last season, for example, the high-profile contest between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert drew 100 million phone and text message votes.
Fox didn't comment on the omission. But "Idol," although still TV's top-rated show, has seen audience erosion this season that could have affected the tally. The talented but low-key Bowersox and DeWyze might also have provoked less interest.
Backstage, DeWyze said he was already looking ahead to his next step, which includes making an album and touring. Asked to look back, he said he's learned much from his "American Idol" experience.
"It's OK to put yourself out there and to take risks. Before all this I wasn't always open to big risks like this, and now I'm just like ... I'm going to run with it. And you only live once," DeWyze said.
As for the judges' lukewarm appraisals he got Tuesday, he said it's possible to "nitpick" anything but he's happy with the songs he selected and how he did.
He called Bowersox "amazing" and said, "I love her to death. I know she's going to be successful."

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Source: Google News

Christina to cancel the Summer tour

The American singer will appear in new movie "Burlesque," due in theaters later this year, and she is currently promoting a new album "Bionic," which is set for release on June 8.

"The singer felt she needed more time to rehearse the show and with less than a month between the album release and tour date this wasn't possible," the statement said.

The North American tour had been set to start in July. New dates will be announced later this year, the statement said.

The first single from "Bionic," a tune called "Not Myself Tonight," debuted in March on Aguilera's official website and became available on iTunes in April.

But after peaking at No. 23 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the singer has also released a second single off her upcoming album, "Woohoo," featuring rapper Nicki Minaj.

Aguilera, 29, found pop success in the late 1990s and 2000s with hits like "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants," but in recent years she has faced stiff competition from a new round of singers including Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

"Bionic" will be her first album of new music since 2006's "Back to Basics."

'Law & Order' Finale

After ‘Lost’ and ‘24′, another long running TV drama has ended. NBC’s Law & Order aired the series finale on May 24, 2010.

It was a big surprise to fans when NBC unexpectedly announced the end of the Law & Order series. After 20 season, tonight finally marks the end of the show.

Law & Order revolves around criminal investigations by the NYPD and the trials that follow. The cast of the series finale included S. Epatha Merkerson, Anthony Anderson, Jeremy Sisko, Sam Waterson, Linus Roache and Alana De La Garza. It is produced by series creator Dick Wolf.

The TV ratings for Law & Order have been slightly low for awhile but the series has remained on the air. Last week, NBC announced that a new series, Law & Order: Los Angeles, would be joining the schedule in the fall and that the original Law & Order had been canceled. Others are thinking that this might not be the last episode of Law & Order.
The finale presented the drama of the police investigation and the prosecution, with an ending that was satisfying, but sad for the avid viewers that they have to say goodbye to the crime series.

Jack Bauer in "24" Finale

After eight horrifying days, U.S. special agent Jack Bauer ended his career on television's hit action show "24" on Monday by turning into a fugitive from justice and being forced to escape the country he loved.

It seemed a fitting end for Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) because during the show's eight seasons -- each one-hour episodes elapsed as if it were one hour in a day -- the tough-as-nails super agent always landed in trouble.

The cliffhanger ending also will undoubtedly leave loyal fans guessing about the plot of a planned movie based on the show now that it has gone off the Fox network for good.

Earlier this month, "24" executive producer Howard Gordon had promised fans that "to give Jack a happy ending didn't feel authentic," and he and Sutherland did not disappoint.

In Monday's gripping final two hours, Bauer came within a razor's edge of being executed with the tacit knowledge of U.S. president Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), even as he grew closer to assassinating a Russian president who conspired to sabotage a historic global peace agreement.

"Day 8" began earlier this year just as Bauer seemed to be at peace with himself and was preparing for a quiet family life, but he was reluctantly asked to help New York City's Counter Terrorism Unit stop the assassination of the president of fictitious Islamic Republic of Kamistan (IRK).

The attempt to save the IRK president failed and Bauer discovered the Russian -- a reluctant partner in the peace treaty -- was behind the assassination and working with former U.S. president Charles Logan, Bauer's nemesis since "Day 4".

Bauer threatened to unravel the conspiracy, and immediately became a target for murder. In the finale's last minutes, President Taylor stopped Bauer's assassination and advised him to flee the country, because the "Russians will be coming after you -- and so will we."

The final scene ended with an emotional goodbye between Bauer and his long-time trusted friend and colleague, Chloe O'Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub), before he disappeared off-grid.

Sean Hayes to Host Tony Awards Ceremony

These have been some busy weeks for Sean Hayes, below, the Emmy Award-winning “Will & Grace” star: he has been starring on Broadway in the revival of “Promises, Promises,” which netted him a Tony Award nomination for best actor in a musical. And — oh, yes — he recently came out publicly and was criticized in an article on Newsweek’s Web site (newsweek.com) that said he and other gay actors were unconvincing as straight characters. And what better way to put that behind him than by hosting a nationally televised awards program? Mr. Hayes has been chosen to host the 64th Annual Tony Awards, its organizers said on Monday.

The awards ceremony that honors Broadway’s best will be held on June 13 at Radio City Music Hall and will be broadcast live on CBS. The 2010 Tonys team will come into the show with some momentum, or some big shoes to fill, depending on how you look at it: the 2009 ceremony, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, drew the show’s best ratings in three years.

Lindsay Lohan forbidden from drinking

Actress Lindsay Lohan left the Beverly Hills courthouse Monday wearing an alcohol monitoring device and the knowledge that she will be subject to weekly random drug tests and probably won't be able to go to Texas to film a movie.

After missing a mandatory court appearance last week because she claimed she was stuck in Cannes, France, after her passport was stolen, Lohan finally faced the judge who responded to her absence by issuing a warrant for her arrest. The 23-year-old actress is on probation for drunk driving.

Judge Marsha N. Revel forbade the actress to consume alcohol, ordered her to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and required random drug testing every week in Los Angeles.

As part of Lohan's bail condition, she must attend a weekly alcohol treatment program unless it interferes with a random drug test. Revel set a July 6 hearing to review Lohan's compliance. Her probation could be revoked.

Kites opens in top 10 in Hollywood

Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and Mexican star Barbara Mori's action-romance Kites has become the first Bollywood film to debut in the North American top ten on opening weekend flying into the number ten spot.

Released by Reliance Big Pictures, the Rakesh Roshan-produced film grossed an estimated USD 1 million for the period of May 21-23, ranking just behind the ninth-place film How to Train Your Dragon which has grossed over USD 210 million.
Directed by Anurag Basu, Kites has been praised by US film critics and has generated the most number of mainstream reviews ever for a Bollywood film on opening day.
It has earned an exceptionally high 85 percent score on RottenTomatoes.com, a popular film review aggregator website in US.

In India, Kites soared to the second biggest opening day gross in history trailing only 3 Idiots. In addition, the film has opened at number five at the UK box office.
This Friday, on May 28, an international version of the film titled Kites- The Remix will open in select theaters in US.

It is presented by Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner, focuses more on the action and runs 90 minutes in length.

Some theaters across North America will be playing both versions simultaneously giving fans a choice in their viewing experience.

Bret Michaels Wins "Celebrity Apprentice"

Rock singer Bret Michaels finally had a reason to celebrate on Sunday after a string of medical emergencies -- winning the reality TV show "The Celebrity Apprentice."

The show's host Donald Trump told Michaels he was "hired" in Sunday's finale, winning $250,000 for his nominated charity, the American Diabetes Association.

In second place was actress Holly Robinson Peete with $250,000 also to go to her chosen charity, her own HollyRod Foundation that supports families facing a serious illness.

Michaels, 47, the frontman of glam rock band Poison, suffers from diabetes and underwent an emergency appendectomy two weeks before suffering a potentially fatal brain hemorrhage on April 25.

The singer, famous for his colorful bandannas and long blond hair, survived the brain hemorrhage and appeared on the road to recovery but was then readmitted to hospital after experiencing numbness on the left side of his body.

A statement last week on his website BretMichaels.com said he had suffered a mini-stroke last week and tests showed he has a hole in his heart.

Doctors said it was "highly unlikely that the problems were related to the brain hemorrhage" and the heart condition was operable, but that for now he would receive blood thinners and outpatient treatment.

However these health woes raised some doubt over whether he would appear in the finale of the NBC TV show that was largely shot before his health issues arose but he was present with Sunday's show included live and taped sequences.

Trump told Michaels that he was "popular, imaginative and brave," adding "everyone loved you."

'MacGruber' Movie Review

Is dressing up a corpse funny? Is '80s music funny? Is blowing up your best friends funny? It depends, really, on who's involved. You need a great character to make a bad thing good, and the action comedy "MacGruber" is sadly short on great characters. For all the wacky, taboo, parodic situations that "MacGruber" plunges into, the film seems content to simply point at its hero, yell "What a schmuck!" and leave it at that.

In the sometimes-grand tradition of "Saturday Night Live" skits that morph into movies, "SNL" cast member Will Forte brings his crime-fighting character, MacGruber, to the silver screen and takes full advantage of an R rating with potty jokes and grisly throat-slitting (our hero's preferred method of dispatch). The cast, many of them "SNL" regulars, ham it up with verve, but it's the writing (by Forte and other "SNL"-ers) that brings things down. There's little evidence here of the fully imagined characters and silly turns of phrase that made, say, "Wayne's World" so inspired.

In the "SNL" skits, MacGruber (parodying TV hero MacGyver) established himself as a hapless guy who attempts to use everyday items to defuse bombs. But he invariably gets sidetracked and forgets to jerry-rig a life-saving device. Tick, tick, boom, the bomb explodes, but obviously MacGruber lives to die another day. (Oddly, this gimmick isn't used in the film.)

At the start of "MacGruber," we find our hero hiding out in a monastery-type place, where he fled after the villainous Dieter blew up MacGruber's wife on their wedding day. MacGruber survived the blast, but allowed the world to believe he'd perished. Now, years later, Dieter is in possession of a nuclear warhead, and the Pentagon wants MacGruber to go after him. Hungry for revenge, he agrees.

After MacGruber accidentally blows up his crack team of men, he's dismissed from the case, but he pleads with a Pentagon newbie, Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe), to reinstate him. Piper agrees, and the two join up with MacGruber's old associate, Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig), in a bumbling chase after Dieter, the warhead, sweet vengeance, love and sex in a graveyard.

Directed by "SNL's" Jorma Taccone, "MacGruber" sets out to parody not only the bad '80's hair and super-suaveness of "MacGyver," but also the absurd machismo and melodrama of action flicks at large. The deeply inept MacGruber acquires just enough of a persona to cobble together a feature-length story, but not enough to really make an impression.

The whole package, for all its energy, is often lamentably unsubtle. Like a kid banging pots together in a kitchen, it's a little bit funny, until it's not.

Lost Leaves many questions

Sci-fi TV drama "Lost" ended six seasons of plot twists in an emotional finale that saw forgotten characters reemerge, an epic battle among key rivals and still more questions in the mysterious island paradise.

Fans looking for answers to the series' numerous mysteries were treated to the reappearance of characters from seasons past like Boone and Shannon, who served as catalysts to trigger memories of the island for those struggling to remember.

Perhaps it was predictable that the "Lost" creators would reintroduce old characters and leave new questions unanswered. After all, they had already warned they would.

Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said in advance that the final episode's storyline would continue on a season six DVD with upward of 20 minutes of additional material.

Part supernatural adventure, part character-driven drama, "Lost" has evolved from the story of 48 survivors of Oceanic flight 815 who find themselves stranded on a mysterious island into a complicated, mythological tale with an expansive cast.

The series-ending season No. 6 began in the post hydrogen-bomb haze of the 1977 Swan construction site explosion, and it progressed at a break-neck pace shifting through time periods and giving more back story on strange characters like Richard Alpert, Jacob and The Man in Black.

Sunday's finale, the 114th episode fittingly entitled "The End," saw the island's new protector Jack and the nefarious Locke/Man in Black, fight it out for control of Desmond, who served as both a tool to be used and a weapon because of his tolerance to electromagnetic energy, and the island's fate.

Jack later sacrificed himself to bring the mythical "heart of the island" back to life, watching a plane glide through a jungle clearing before closing his eyes for the last time.

Kate, Sayid, Charlie and the other Oceanic survivors in the show's alternate "sideways" reality began experiencing flashbacks of their time on the island, leading them to remember they are somehow intrinsically linked to one another.

Shrek - 4 Underperformance at the Box Office

Shrek is not as green as he used to be.

"Shrek Forever After," the fourth movie in DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc's (DWA.O) lucrative series about a jolly green giant, took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America, but it fell short of expectations, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

The film earned $71.3 million during its first three days of release, far short of industry predictions that it could surpass $100 million.

Of the previous "Shrek" films, "Shrek the Third" opened to $121.6 million in 2007, "Shrek 2" earned $108 million during its first weekend in 2004, and "Shrek" kicked off the franchise with $42 million in 2001.

The new film opened "on the low end" of forecasts, said Anne Globe, the company's head of worldwide marketing and consumer products, but she noted that it still ranks as the fourth-biggest opening of all time among animated films, behind the previous two Shreks and "The Simpsons" ($74 million).

Moreover, it broke new territory for both the company and for animation in general by being the fourth film in a franchise, Globe said. The studio has promised this will be the final film in the series.

Sales from 3D theaters accounted for 61 percent of the total. Such locations charge a premium, and reports surfaced last week that the AMC theater chain had broken the $20 per ticket barrier for the first time. By Saturday, the closely held firm said that was a mistake, and prices for 3D screenings range ranged between $17 and $19.

Globe expected the movie to hold up well over the next few weeks, because the next big family offering, rival animation powerhouse Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) "Toy Story 3," does not open until June 18.

DreamWorks Animation's previous release, "How To Train Your Dragon," was considered a disappointment after it earned a relatively modest $44 million during its first weekend in March, and the studio's share price fell 8 percent the following Monday.

But the movie has displayed strong staying power, with sales to date of $211 million. Still, the stock price closed at $34.87 on Friday, down 18.5 percent since "Dragon" opened. The Nasdaq -- and Disney -- are each off 7 percent in the same period.

"Shrek Forever After," with the voice cast including Michael Myers, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, cost about $135 million to make. Worldwide marketing costs will be about $165 million, Globe said.

The film also earned about $26 million after opening in seven countries. Russia accounted for $20 million -- narrowly beating "Avatar" to claim the country's all-time record. The bulk of the other openings were in Asian markets, such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

"IRON MAN 2" BREAKS $500 MILLION WORLDWIDE

After leading the North American box office for the previous two weekends, "Iron Man 2" slipped to No. 2 with $26.6 million. The superhero sequel has earned $251.3 million to date, and an additional $268 million internationally. The film was produced by Disney's Marvel Studios. Its 2008 predecessor ended its worldwide run with $585 million.

Both "Shrek Forever After" and "Iron Man 2" were distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc (VIAb.N).

Russell Crowe's "Robin Hood" fell to No. 3 with $18.7 million in its second weekend. The 10-day total for the Universal Pictures release stands at $66.1 million. The foreign total rose to $125 million after a $30 million weekend.

The North American top-10 included two other new releases, neither making much of a splash. "MacGruber," a comedy based on a "Saturday Night Live" skit came in at No. 6 with $4.1 million. Pundits had forecast an opening in the high single digits for the low-budget movie. General Electric Co (GE.N)-owned Universal distributed on behalf of closely held financier Relativity Media.

The Bollywood movie "Kites" flew in at No. 10 with about $1 million from 208 theaters, reportedly the widest release of any Hindi film to date and the first time such a film has cracked the top tier. The Las Vegas-set action romance was released by Reliance Big Pictures, a unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

Sex and the City-2 Performs better

So even if "Sex and the City 2" consisted of nothing but a two-hour fashion show, it would draw crowds. But it also has the returning cast members in fine comic form, and it has more cutting-edge humor than the first movie.

Critics will carp about the platitudes in the script and about the longueurs in the nearly two-hour opus, but for the core audience, there will be no complaints about too much of a good thing. This picture is going to be a smash when it opens on Thursday via New Line/Warner Bros.

Some of us who enjoyed the outrageous antics showcased in the HBO series created by Darren Star and executed in later years by Michael Patrick King (the writer-director of both films) found the first movie disappointingly bland. Instead of the bracing emphasis on sex, the focus shifted to less scintillating folderol about marriage. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) was jilted at the altar by her true love, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), but snared him in the end. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) also faced a crisis in her marriage but ended up in a clinch with hubby Steve (David Eigenberg).

The new movie begins two years later at a wedding -- a gay wedding (in Connecticut). But though the two grooms are pledging their devotion, the gals are learning that marital bliss is more elusive than the first movie implied.

Carrie and Big find themselves at odds over an issue that bedevils many couples: She loves to go out on the town, and he turns out to be a closet TV addict who wants to do nothing more than curl up on the couch watching old movies.

Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has achieved her dream life with two children, but the tots turn out to be maddening rather than adorable. Only Samantha (the consistently irresistible Kim Cattrall) remains defiantly single, waging her own personal war against menopause.

These wan domestic squabbles are merely prelude to the movie's major plot development. Samantha is approached by an Arab sheik to devise a PR campaign for his business enterprises, and he offers to fly her and her three gal pals on an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation to Abu Dhabi. (These scenes were filmed in Morocco.) Even in an escapist fantasy, the spectacle of women sinking into this billionaire's paradise at a time of widespread economic hardship initially seems creepy and off-putting.

Soon, however, their Arab sojourn takes unexpected turns. First of all, Carrie encounters her old flame, Aidan (John Corbett), at the spice market, but even more importantly, she and her friends run up against the puritanical and misogynistic culture of the Middle East. The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment, but there's something bracing about the film's saucy political incorrectness. Or is it politically correct?

"SATC 2" is at once proudly feminist and blatantly anti-Muslim, which means that it might confound liberal viewers. Indicative of the film's contradictory stance is a scene in which the ladies perform a karaoke version of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" in an Abu Dhabi nightclub. An equally outrageous moment comes when the interlopers are rescued by a bunch of Muslim women who strip off their black robes to reveal the stylish Western outfits they are concealing beneath their discreet garb. These endearingly loopy scenes exhibit the tasteless humor that enlivened the TV series on its best nights.

King's script isn't always well-balanced. Carrie's minor marital problems are given way too much attention, whereas the intriguing dilemmas of Miranda and Charlotte are downplayed. Nixon and Davis do, however, share one marvelous scene in which they vent their dissatisfactions with motherhood. It also is a pleasure to see Cattrall flaunt her sexual imperatives in front of her Arab hosts. Noth and Corbett are so appealing that we can sympathize with Carrie's romantic confusion. Liza Minnelli, Miley Cyrus and Penelope Cruz show up for amusing cameos.

Technical credits are first-rate. Cinematographer John Thomas and production designer Jeremy Conway make the most of the exotic locations. Costume designer Patricia Field's outlandish creations will send many viewers to hog heaven. But it's hard to know what King and editor Michael Berenbaum were smoking when they let the 146-minute film drag on at least 40 minutes too long. Even with its excesses, Carrie and company's excellent Arabian adventure will leave viewers thinking and arguing as well as swooning over the digs and the rags.

Lost TV series into Finale

Since 2004, the J.J. Abrams series has broken just about every narrative rule for commercial television.

At times, it’s been a jungle adventure, a thriller, a conspiracy story, a sci-fi mind-bender and sometimes, surprisingly, a lush romance. It has played with notions of time and character in flashbacks, flash-forwards and flash-sideways and demanded that viewers keep up with the pace. No spoon-feeding here.

Not since the end of HBO’s “The Sopranos” has a series finale been so eagerly anticipated.

If producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse explain everything in the two-and-a-half hour series finale “The End” (Sunday at 9 p.m. on WCVB, Ch. 5), they risk breaking the spell that has entranced millions over six seasons.

(A two-hour retrospective “Lost: The Final Journey” airs Sunday at 7 p.m. The cast and crew reunite on a special “Jimmy Kimmel” at 12:05 a.m. and present three alternate endings.)

Too much exposition could lead to silliness, as it did in Tuesday’s episode when viewers learned why Kate’s (Evangeline Lilly) name had been scratched off as a candidate to replace Jacob (Mark Pellegrino).

Who knew there was a mommy track on the island?

As expected, Jack (Matthew Fox), the man of science who had long argued for free will, accepted his destiny as the island’s protector.

“This is why I’m here. This is what I’m supposed to do,” he said.

Much hinges on Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), who in the flash-sideways universe is trying to reunite the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 - at a concert? - and could be key to thwarting Locke Monster (Terry O’Quinn) in the island reality.

It’s been an uneven season.

For every “Ab Aeterno,” which delved into the history of Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), or the heartbreaking “The Candidate,” which ended in the deaths of three original castaways, there’s been a jarring narrative hiccup, such as “Across the Sea,” the lame story of Woman (Allison Janney, get thee off TV) and her two sons, Jacob and Unnamed Kid who Grows up to be Locke Monster. The numerous flash-sideways sequences have been at best diverting and at worst yawn-inducing and need an especially strong payoff Sunday to justify viewer investment.

There will never be another show like “Lost” on commercial television. It came at a time when then fourth-place network ABC was desperate for anything that might attract eyeballs and was willing to give Abrams almost full creative freedom. (The producers now agree that the network’s one demand - that Jack survive the pilot - proved to be a canny call.)

For those who want to write for TV, “Lost” will remain the holy grail. For those holding the books, it will the unholy bane because “Lost” will never make a single penny after Sunday night. The narrative-rich, serialized stories have no life in syndication. In contrast, “Law & Order” will cycle in reruns for at least the next 20 years and make millions. That’s not a judgment on quality, it’s a fact about viewer habits.

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Megan Fox and Michael Bay's Favorite Moments

The months surrounding the summer 2009 release of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" were endlessly entertaining when it came to movie journalism. The world watched with fascination, horror, giggles and gasps as director Michael Bay and star Megan Fox went at each other. The duo slammed and defended each other and threw each other under the bus only to reach under and stage a PR rescue mission.

Now, all that is behind us, as Fox has parted ways with the robot franchise, and the run-up to the release of "Transformers 3" in July 2011 promises to be significantly less titillating as a result.

We're not gonna lie — we'll miss this salacious back-and-forth between two of Hollywood's most entertaining personalities. That's why we decided to take a lighthearted look back at our favorite moments from Fox and Bay's creative partnership.

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Rocker Bret Michaels in Hospital

The reality TV star's Web site reports that Michaels had what doctors call a "warning stroke" and had a patent foramen ovale, or hole in the heart, diagnosed. Michaels's publicist, Joann Mignano, confirmed the report.

The condition is treatable but likely unrelated to the brain hemorrhage he suffered last month.

The Web site says Michaels is "up, walking, talking, continuing his daily rehab and very happy to be alive," and he hopes to make a full recovery.

The Poison frontman was expected to appear at Sunday's finale of "Celebrity Apprentice" in New York.

Shrek Forever After (Shrek 4) Movie Review

The Shrek we meet at the start of "Shrek Forever After" is a shell of an ogre: mean and green on the outside, but all mellow yellow inside. Married life and fatherhood have made him soft, and no longer scary. Gone are the angry mobs who used to chase him with pitchforks, replaced by some obnoxious brat at his triplets' birthday party, who keeps demanding, "Do the roar!" as if Shrek were just another celebrity with a worn-out catchphrase.

Can this be the monster that we know and love, or is he merely going through the motions, catering to the clamoring crowds that want to see him do what he's always done, one more time?

The same thing might be asked of the movie, the fourth and supposedly final chapter in the animated series. Has "Shrek Forever After" still got it, or is it just a crass attempt to cash in on a now-tired franchise?

Believe it or not, there's life in the old boy yet. After a disappointing third outing, this "Shrek" brings the cycle of fairy-tale-themed films to a fine finish.

The premise itself will sound familiar. Not from earlier Shrek movies, but from the 1946 "It's a Wonderful Life." In an attempt to get back some of his mojo, if only for a day, Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) finds himself in the position of George Bailey, in a world in which he has never been born.

That's because he makes a magical deal with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn). Shrek gets 24 hours to live the life he used to have, before fame and family came along. In return, Rumpelstiltskin gets to take a day from Shrek's life.

Our hero should have read the fine print more carefully. Rumpelstiltskin picks the day Shrek was born, meaning that, while Shrek now finds himself in a world unencumbered by diapers and responsibility, it's also a world in which all the good he's done has had no effect. He wasn't there to rescue his wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), from her tower prison. Rumpelstiltskin is now king, and his kingdom is a police state, run by witches who hunt down ogres and toss them in jail. Fiona is the Amazonian leader of the ogre resistance movement.

Fortunately, there's an escape clause: If he and Fiona share one "true love's kiss," Shrek gets his old life back. All he has to do is make Fiona fall in love with him -- all over again. If he doesn't, he'll evaporate come sunrise.

That much is reminiscent of the first two movies, which also revolved around the power of a transformative kiss. But there's enough here that's clever and new -- and at times very funny -- to keep things from feeling stale.

Many beloved old characters return, only much transformed. Gingy the gingerbread man (Conrad Vernon) is now a scarred professional gladiator, fighting animal crackers in an arena for sport. Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is a mangy beast of burden, pulling the paddy wagon into which Shrek is thrown after he's captured. Most hilariously, Puss (Antonio Banderas) can no longer fit into his boots, having put on well more than a few pounds as Fiona's pampered pet.

Among the new characters, Rumpelstiltskin makes for a perfect villain. Vain, insecure and ridiculous in an assortment of constantly changing wigs, he's a pleasure to boo and hiss at.

The Pied Piper also makes an indelible debut, without ever uttering a word. Hired by Rumpelstiltskin to round up ogres, he carries a high-tech flute with him -- it has settings for rats, witches, ogres, etc. -- that makes dancers out of whatever and whomever he wants, to consistently amusing effect. If you liked the episode of "Glee" where the football team shakes it, improbably, to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies," you'll love the sight of hulking, line-dancing ogres.

Have we heard some of this before? Sure. But as with the best fairy tales -- the ones that bear repeating again and again -- the delight in "Shrek Forever After" is not in the tale itself, but in the telling.