Rhys Ifans named Spider-Man villain

Sony continues to fill out its "Spider-Man" roster, this time with the franchise installment's newest villain, for which the studio has tapped thesp Rhys Ifans.

Ifans will rival Andrew Garfield as the web-slinging super hero and Emma Stone, who was recently announced to play Spidey's love interest Gwen Stacy.

Sony declined to reveal which villain Ifans will play.

"We have been very fortunate to attract some of the best actors working today to play the villains in the 'Spider-Man' movies, and it is exciting to see that trend continue with Rhys Ifans," said Colombia Pictures prexy Matt Tolmach.

Ifans joins the franchise's villainous ranks, which has included Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace.

Marc Webb will take over helming credits from previous "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi, with James Vanderbilt penning the script. Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin will produce.

The "Spider-Man" pic is set to go into production in December and will be released in 3D on July 3, 2012.

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Fox lights 'Dynamite'

It's time for another "Napoleon Dynamite" campaign at Fox.

Fox has greenlit an animated series rendition of the 2004 comedy that starred Jon Heder as a geeky teenager struggling to navigate high school politics in rural Idaho. Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Rice championed the quirky live-action feature in his previous gig as prexy of Fox Searchlight.

Now Rice is a position to give new life to "Napoleon" as a toon that reunites helmer-writer Jared Hess and co-writer Jerusha Hess as writers and exec producers of the TV rendition. "The Simpsons" alum Mike Scully is also on board as a writer/exec producer.

Heder and his co-stars in the original pic will voice the key characters. Fox has ordered six episodes of "Dynamite" from for 20th Century Fox TV.

Fox has also given a seven-episode order to another toon, "Allen Gregory," which hails from 20th and Chernin Entertainment. Laffer revolves around the titular character, described as a famous 7-year-old who faces the greatest challenge of his life when he has to attend elementary school with regular kids.

Skein is written by Jonah Hill, Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul, who exec produce along with Chernin Entertainment's Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.

Both series are targeted for debut in the 2011-12 season. Fox has one animated entry on tap this season for a midseason debut, "Bob's Burgers."

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AFI taps Morgan Freeman for lifetime honor

Morgan Freeman has been anointed the 39th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, which will be handed out June 9, 2011, most likely on the Sony lot in Culver City.

Freeman is the 27th actor to be given the honor since its inception in 1973, and only the second African American be given the laurel, after Sidney Poitier in 1992.

The AFI Life Achievement award is arguably among the most prestigious in American filmmaking, in a league with the Academy's Irving Thalberg Memorial Award -- whose honorees have overlapped with the AFI's seven times -- not to mention a competitive Oscar, which Freeman won for his supporting role in Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). Freeman has been nominated by the Academy four other times, most recently for his role as South African president Nelson Mandela in Eastwood's "Invictus" (2009).

Freeman, whose sonorous voice is so commanding and authoritative that he has played God more than once (in the "Bruce Almighty" films) and served as narrator on the popular doc "The March of the Penguins." As an actor, he hails from the stage, having made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, in "The Nigger Lovers," about the Civil Rights era Freedom Fighters.

His breakout role in movies was as a hoodlum in "Street Smart" (1987), which accounted for his first Oscar nom. His other notable credits include "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Glory" (1989), "Unforgiven" (1992), "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994), "Se7en" (1995), "Amistad" (1997), "Batman Begins" (2005) and its sequel, "The Dark Knight" (2008), and "The Bucket List" (2007).

He has worked with at least four of his fellow Lifetime Achievement honorees, including last year's recipient, Mike Nichols, who directed him on Broadway in the Clifford Odets play, "The Country Girl" in 2008.

Freeman can next be seen as an ex CIA operative alongside Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren in "Red," opening Oct. 15.

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Oranges and Sunshine

An Icon Film Distribution (in Australia/U.K.) release of a Screen Australia, Little Gaddelsden presentation of a Sixteen Films/See-Saw Prods. production, in association with Fulcrum Media France, EM Media, South Australian Film Corp., Deluxe, Screen NSW, BBC Films. (International sales: Icon Entertainment, London.) Produced by Camilla Bray, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning. Executive producers, Rebecca O'Brien, Arnab Banerji. Directed by Jim Loach. Screenplay, Rona Munro, based on the book"Empty Cradles" by Margaret Humphreys.
With: Emily Watson, David Wenham, Hugo Weaving, Richard Dillane, Lorraine Ashbourne, Kate Rutter, Greg Stone, Tara Morice, Stuart Wolfenden, Federay Holmes.
Auds may well be in tears just minutes into "Oranges and Sunshine," a deeply moving study of emotionally scarred adults who were illegally deported as children to Australia from Britain in the 1940s and '50s. Toplining a superb Emily Watson as Margaret Humphreys, the British social worker who brought the shameful secret to world attention in the late '80s, this standout debut by British helmer Jim Loach, son of director Ken Loach, will make a strong claim for arthouse berths everywhere. World preemed at Pusan, pic is skedded for April 2011 release in Blighty and Down Under.

Co-produced by Loach Sr.'s Sixteen Films company and scripted by Rona Munro, who wrote "Ladybird, Ladybird," pic has all the grit and integrity of a Ken Loach movie. What's immediately clear is that Jim Loach, an experienced TV director, is no pale imitation of his highly respected father.

Munro's finely chiseled adaptation of Humphreys' 1996 book "Empty Cradles" astutely avoids flashbacks of youngsters being herded onto boats. Set entirely in the 1980s, the movie opens with Margaret (Watson) more or less stumbling onto the life-changing story when confronted in Nottingham by Charlotte (Federay Holmes), an Australian woman who wants "to find out who I am."

Supported by loving husband Merv (Richard Dillane), also a social worker, Margaret discovers Charlotte is one of thousands of British youngsters who were unlawfully removed from children's homes and "unfit" (i.e., unwed) mothers and sent to Australia "for their own good."

Undaunted by unhelpful British and Australian officials, Margaret reunites Charlotte with her mother. She then travels to Perth with Englishwoman Nicky (Lorraine Ashbourne) to meet the latter's long-lost deportee brother, Jack (Hugo Weaving). Soon, she is swamped by enquiries from hundreds of Jacks and Charlottes, many of whom were told their parents were dead.

The heartbreaking stories Margaret hears will bring tears to most eyes. Without a hint of sensationalism or manipulation, deportees discuss the emptiness of never having felt a proper sense of identity. Others confess to feeling worthless after years of mental and physical abuse in orphanages, many of them church-run. One can practically see the frightened children in the eyes of these wounded adults.

The exception is Len (David Wenham), a brusque type who appears unscarred by his time at Bindoon, a remote Catholic orphanage where unspeakable acts were said to have taken place. Now a benefactor of the institution, he takes Margaret to his former home and exacts revenge with a quiet, beautifully controlled fury.

While touching on growing media interest in the explosive story and anonymous threats of physical harm to Margaret, the pic remains firmly focused on the terrible personal cost of political decisions kept hidden from public view.

Watson is perfect as the upright, compassionate and fiercely determined champion of victims' rights. Weaving has rarely been better than as the empty Jack, and Wenham brings a sharp edge as the prickly Len. Thesping right down to the bit players is excellent.

In the best tradition of British social realism, Denson Baker's largely handheld camera is steady and unobtrusive; Lisa Gerrard's lovely score is discreetly applied. All other technical aspects are top-notch.

Camera (color), Denson Baker; editor, Dany Cooper; music, Lisa Gerrard; production designer, Linda Doring; art directors, Jane Levick, Tuesday Stone; costume designer, Cappi Ireland; sound (Dolby Digital), Gethin Creagh; visual effects supervisor, James Rogers; visual effects, Melissa Heagney; line producer, Joan Schneider; associate producer, Fiona Lanyon; assistant directors, Kieran Murray-Smith, Chris Webb; casting, Kahleen Crawford, Nikki Barrett. Reviewed at Pusan Film Festival (World Cinema), Oct. 8, 2010. (Also in Rome Film Festival -- competing.) Running time: 105 MIN.

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PIRATE SKULLS & CROSSBONES BANDAGES

Boo-boos come in all sizes. Some only need a wee bandage, while others require something a little more substantial. Each 3-3/4" tall metal tin contains two sizes of latex-free, vinyl, adhesive bandages (three 3-1/4" long pirate flags, ten 1-1/2" tall skulls) with sterile gauze and a FREE TOY to take your mind off of the excruciating pain.

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The Color of Desire

An Actors' Playhouse presentation of a play in two acts by Nilo Cruz. Directed by David Arisco.
Preston - Jim Ballard Belen - Hannia Guillen Albertina - Teresa Maria Rojas Leandra - Isabel Moreno Preston - Jim Ballard Orlando - Sandor Juan Caroline - Barbara Sloan Oscar - Michael Serratore Waiter, Emcee, Young Man - Nick Duckart
Dreams, denial and delusions in 1960 Havana swim in the tragic mambo that suffuses Nilo Cruz's newest drama, "The Color of Desire," premiering in his adopted hometown of Miami. In positing an American businessman who persuades a Cuban actress to reincarnate his own lost love, Cruz dazzles the mind and quickens the emotions. But the actual execution onstage at Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables, Fla., pulses unevenly. It's a promising work that needs a bit more retooling and a crisper production.

Cruz is known for works like "Anna in the Tropics," flush with poetic dialogue. The imagery here is intentionally not quite as lyrical, but it's heady with resonances, as when the actress, Belen (Hannia Guillen), says, "It's a dark world ? but also magnificent, because I can dance and forget the smell of gunpowder that still lingers in the air from the death squads."

The plot pivots around the American, Preston (Jim Ballard), whose family has owned companies in Havana for decades. Despite the local upheaval, Preston postpones abandoning his privileged paradise of mojitos and mink stoles. He courts Belen, an attractive fledgling actress who tells herself she isn't troubled by the injustices that the revolution has produced.

But Preston doesn't want a conventional affair. Like Jimmy Stewart's detective in "Vertigo," he wants to mold Belen into a stand-in for a departed temptress, who herself had Preston impersonate a lover executed by Castro. True ardor and feigned passion spin inside their play-acted fantasies -- all while growing repression threatens dreamers as deeply in denial as the passengers on "The Ship of Fools."

The script, commissioned by the Arena Stage in Washington, has evolved in workshops and readings, but there's still an unfocused feel as Cruz gets caught up in side stories about Yankee snowbirds and Belen's comic/tragic aunts. We ache for Cruz to excavate more of Preston and Belen's elusive relationship.

The play wanders until Preston makes his pitch to Belen. Even then, we're not enthralled until the two make their first foray into fantasy, at which point Cruz's genius meshes with David Arisco's direction and the leads' acting: The dialogue ricochets among so many levels of meaning that we do not know if we are viewing the real world, a fantasy playing in Preston's mind or a time traveler's spying on the actual events in the past. It's a thrilling hall-of-mirrors scene that reveals Arisco's talent for staging; his tableaux of the intertwining couple are imaginative and sensual. But he isn't always able to elicit the performances he needs from this cast. Ballard and Guillen don't generate much heat until they re-enact Preston's memories; only then do they begin to fully inhabit their characters.

Sets, Sean McClelland; costumes, Ellis Tillman; lighting, Patrick Tennant; sound, Alexander Herrin; production stage manager, Carl Waisanen. Opened, reviewed Oct. 8, 2010. Running time: 2 HOURS.

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Beauty and the Beast (Disney Special Edition) [VHS]

The film that officially signaled Disney's animation renaissance (following The Little Mermaid) and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman. (The title song won the 1991 Best Song Oscar, and Menken's score scored a trophy as well.) The downright funniest song is "Gaston," a lout's paean to himself (including the immortal line, "I use antlers in all of my de-co-ra-ting"). "Be Our Guest" is transformed into an inspired Busby Berkeley homage. Since Ashman's passing, animated musicals haven't quite reached the same exhilarating level of wit, sophistication, and pure joy. --David Kronke --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Price: $24.99

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The Suburbs

Written, arranged, performed, and produced by the Arcade Fire and co-produced by Markus Dravs, The Suburbs was recorded around Montreal and New York over the past two years.

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Blavatnik invests in Weinsteins

Industrialist Len Blavatnik has agreed to make a three-year investment in The Weinstein Co., according to a person familiar with the situation.

Under the deal, TWC will distribute the titles in the US and retain rights to France and Germany and Australia.

Blavatnik's Icon Entertainment will distribute the TWC titles in the UK and other foreign territories. TWC had not officially confirmed the deal Monday evening.

Blavatnik made a bid earlier this year for MGM but the studio spurned his offer. He began building an entertainment conglomerate several years ago through his Access Industries.

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Kidnapped (Secuestrados)

A Vaca Films production in association with La Fabrique 2, Blur Prods. and Attic. (International sales: Filmax Intl., Barcelona.) Produced by Emma Lustres, Borja Pena. Co-producers, Franck Ribiere, Verane Frediani, Mario Fornies, Rafael Endeiza. Directed by Miguel Angel Vivas. Screenplay, Vivas, Javier Garcia.
With: Fernando Cayo, Manuela Velles, Ana Wagener, Guillermo Barrienttos, Martijn Kuiper, Dritan Biba, Xoel Yanez. (Spanish dialogue)
Named best horror film at Austin's Fantastic Fest, "Kidnapped" is a technically proficient and aggressively unpleasant suspenser about sadistic home invaders who torment a family of upscale Madrid suburbanites. For those impressed by such things, filmmaker Miguel Angel Vivas displays considerable imagination and industriousness while rising to his self-imposed challenge of unfolding his yarn more or less in real time in a series of a dozen or so extended takes, occasionally employing split-screen visuals to effectively depict simultaneous action. Pic likely won't sell many tickets, but should serve Vivas well as a calling card.

Yet another entry in a subgenre that dates back to "The Desperate Hours," "Kidnapped" seldom lets up after three masked hoodlums break into the home shared by middle-aged Jamie (Fernando Cayo) and Marta (Ana Wagener), and their 18-year-old daughter, Isa (Manuela Velles). While one thug drives Jamie to various ATMs to empty out bank accounts, his companions repeatedly threaten the womenfolk. Everything leads to a violent ending that seems, even by genre standards, wrenchingly nihilistic -- which, of course, could be a selling point.

Camera (Technicolor), Pedro J. Marquez; editor, Jose Manuel Jimenez; music, Sergio Moure; production designer, Miguel Riesco; costume designer, Montse Sancho. Reviewed at Fantastic Fest, Austin, Sept. 25, 2010. Running time: 85 MIN.

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow [VHS]

Written, arranged, performed, and produced by the Arcade Fire and co-produced by Markus Dravs, The Suburbs was recorded around Montreal and New York over the past two years.

Price: $9.99

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DVR playback boosts hits

More shows than ever are padding their ratings totals via DVR playback, including CBS drama "Hawaii Five-0," which surged to its namesake demo score (a 5.0) with its premiere and remained the season's top newcomer.

Overall, there weren't too many surprises in the premiere-week "live plus 7" DVR numbers released Monday. The rich got richer, except, of course, for No. 1 show "Sunday Night Football" on NBC, which saw virtually no gain in seven-day playback. Another big live show, ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" saw minimal gains, while returning faves such as ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Modern Family" and Fox's "House" jumped the most.

While DVR penetration grew by 15% vs. last year (38% of homes vs. 33% at the start of last year), the volume of playback over seven days increased by 17%, according to CBS research.

As a result, a whopping 13 series gained 1 full ratings point or more in adults 18-49 when comparing premiere week's previously reported "live plus same-day" numbers to the final live plus 7 DVR playback tallies. A year ago there were only five such shows.

Two of these 13 shows gaining 1-plus points were rookies: "Hawaii Five-0" grew 1.1 points (3.9 to 5.0), and NBC's "The Event" gained 1 point (3.6 to 4.6). In addition to being two of the season's most-anticipated new programs, they also air on a night (Monday) that sees lots of live viewing thanks to ESPN's "Monday Night Football" and ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Of the medium-range hits that netted between a 2 and 3 "live plus same-day" Nielsen rating in 18-49 during premiere week, the biggest percentage gainers were Fox's "Fringe" (2.2 to 3.1, up 41%), NBC's "Parenthood" (2.5 to 3.4, up 36%), Fox's "Bones" (2.7 vs. 3.6, up 33%) and NBC's "Community" (2.2 vs. 2.9, up 32%).

And notable gainers from a smaller base included a quintet of CW series -- "90210," "Gossip Girl," "Top Model," "Smallville" and "The Vampire Diaries" -- that gained four-tenths of a ratings point. (In the case, of "90210," that meant an impressive gain of 44%, from 0.9 to 1.3).

In total viewers, 14 series gained 2 million viewers or more in premiere week -- up from just four in the opening stanza of 2009. Leading this list were a pair of CBS 10 p.m. crime shows -- "Hawaii Five-0" and "The Mentalist" -- that added more than 3 million sets of eyeballs.

CBS, which dominates the total viewer race, could claim seven shows adding 2 million or more viewers, including Friday newbie "Blue Bloods," whose final premiere-week count stood at 15.25 million.

The network standings didn't see any real shakeup in the final numbers, with CBS growing by half a ratings point in 18-49 to a 3.8, followed by ABC and NBC (both at 3.2, up from 2.8 in live plus same-day), Fox (3.1, up from 2.6), and CW (1.4, up from 1.1).

The Eye's winning total-viewer count grew from 12.51 million to 14.06 million.

Also Monday, Fox released C3 data (ratings for commercials in live plus three-day DVR playback), the metric by which advertising has been sold for the past two years; NBC's "Sunday Night Football" led the way in 18-49 with a 6.9 rating.

The top 10 entertainment series (which included six comedies) were: "Grey's Anatomy" (5.1), "Glee" (5.0), "Family Guy" and "Modern Family" (both 4.7), "Two and a Half Men" (4.5), "Dancing With the Stars" (4.4), "The Big Bang Theory" (4.3), "The Office" (4.1) and "Dancing With the Stars Results" and "House" (both 4.0).

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Regal Entertainment Group Gift Card Collection

Give the gift of movies! Regal gift cards are good towards admissions and concessions. Regal Entertainment Group is the largest motion picture exhibitor in the world and includes all Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres and United Artists Theatres. Regal Entertainment Group has over 530 locations in 40 states.

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Handler to have an 'After' party at E!

Chelsea Handler is having an "After" party at E!

Handler, the network's popular latenight talkshow host, will star in "After Lately." Half-hour comedy will examine the backstage goings-on at "Chelsea Lately" in a vein similar to HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show," with dialogue that will take its cues more from story outlines than concrete scripts -- a technique used on HBO's laffer "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Eight episodes have been ordered, but no premiere date has yet been set. Production is scheduled to begin in a few weeks.

"The show is a behind-the-scenes look at what happens at our office when the cameras are off. ? a perfect platform for people who have no business being on camera," Handler told Daily Variety .

"After Lately" will be produced by Handler's Borderline Amazing Prods., the production shingle she created earlier this year when she also extended her contract with E! through 2012.

Besides Handler, others set to appear include Guy Branum, Sarah Colonna, Heather McDonald, Chris Franjola and Brad Wollack, who created the show with exec producers Tom Brunelle and Handler. Wollack will also co-exec produce.

"Chelsea Lately," which airs at 11 p.m. and averages slightly less than a million viewers, attracts a larger aud in the 18-34 demo than "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson." Handler recently hosted MTV's Video Music Awards.

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Roku HD-XR Player

Now featuring extended-range wireless, Roku is the easiest way to stream instant movies and shows directly to your TV - over 50,000 and counting, from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. The top-of-the-line HD-XR model uses the latest wireless standard (Wi-Fi "N") to deliver the best quality video virtually anywhere in your home. It's so easy and powerful; no wonder Roku is Netflix members' top rated streaming player. And with the new Roku Channel Store, it also brings you FREE music from Pandora, photo and video sharing, and much more.

Price: $99.99

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Lucasfilm to build Singapore facility

Lucasfilm will build a new facility in Singapore to house its burgeoning digital production businesses there.

The Singapore branches of LucasAnimation, LucasArts Games and Industrial Light & Magic will all be housed in the new facility.

Together those operations already have a staff of 400 in Lucasfilm's existing office in the Signature Building in Changi Business Park. Staff at those offices is increasing rapidly and Lucasfilm is outgrowing the space.

New building in the Fusionopolis area of One North will comprise eight floors of office space and be roughly 409,000 sq. ft., with 242,000 sq. ft of gross floor area.

Lucasfilm has 1700 employees at its headquarters in San Francisco's Presidio.

The new building, which looks like something from the Star Wars universe, will be built above a public garden. Groundbreaking will be early 2011 with completion skedded for late 2012 or early 2013.

Colum Slevin, vice president/head of studio operations Lucasfilm Animation oversees ILM Singapore from San Francisco. Xavier Nicolas runs the facility locally.

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Carrs Cookies, Ginger Lemon Crème, 7.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 3)

Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes English Tea Cookies Three 7.05 Ounce Packs Each box contains Three 7.05 Ounce Sleeves Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes

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Parkes/MacDonald tap Ted Gold

Former Fox exec Ted Gold has been tapped to head TV for Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald's production shingle.

Gold's arrival comes as Parkes/MacDonald Prods. looks to break into the TV business. Gold will oversee TV development and production for Parkes/MacDonald, which has a first-look deal in place with NBC Universal.

"Walter and Laurie have produced some of the most iconic and memorable films of the last couple decades, including several of my favorites," Gold said. "Translating their brand to the TV medium presents a rare, fantastic opportunity. I look forward to making great television and having a lot of fun."

In a joint statement, Parkes and MacDonald said they gravitated to Gold because of his "terrific reputation" and "impressive track record developing material."

"We know his relationships within the creative community and his excellent taste will be a successful combination for our new venture," the duo said.

Parkes and MacDonald's track record as producers includes "Men in Black," "The Ring," "Gladiator" and "Catch Me If You Can."

Gold most recently served as an exec producer last season on CBS' "Three Rivers." He also was head of TV development for Deuce Three Prods.

At Fox, Gold served as senior VP of drama series, developing skeins such as "Prison Break" and "Bones."

Before that, Gold oversaw TV development at Spelling Entertainment, working on shows such as "Kingpin." His resume also includes a stint at New World Ent. under Brandon Tartikoff.

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PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller

The Dualshock 3 wireless controller for the PlayStation 3 system provides the most intuitive game play experience with pressure sensors in each action button and the inclusion of the highly sensitive SIXAXISâ?¢ motion sensing technology. Each hit, crash and explosion is more realistic when the user feels the rumble right in the palm of their hand. It can even detect natural movements for real-time and high precision interactive play, acting as a natural extension of the user's body. Dualshock 3 wireless controller utilizes Bluetooth technology for wireless game play and the controller's USB cable to seamlessly and automatically charge the controller through the PlayStation 3 system at anytime.

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Key Features:

• Pressure sensors that rumble with each action making every impact feel like you're right in the game.
• SIXAXISâ?¢ highly sensitive motion control system senses your every move
• Features Bluetooth technology for wireless game play; the PlayStation 3 system can support up to seven wireless controllers at one time.
• Can be charged at any time through the PlayStation 3 system using the controller's USB cable

Initial PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 Compatibility Chart

• Formula One Championship Edition - PS3
• MotorStorm - PS3
• PAIN - PSN
• High Velocity Bowling - PSN
• MLB 08: The Show - PS3
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - PS3
• Resistance: Fall of Man - PS3
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction - PS3
• Go! Sports Ski - PSN
• Folklore - PS3
• Heavenly Sword - PS3
• Warhawk - PSN/PS3
• Super Stardust HD - PSN
• Snakeball - PSN
• Toy Home - PS
• PSOne Emulation - PSN
• Piyotama - PSN
• PixelJunk Monsters - PSN
• Blast Factor - PSN
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot - PS3
• LOST: Via Domus - PS3
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - PS3
• Burnout Paradise - PS3
• Dynasty Warriors 6 - PS3
• Devil May Cry 4 - PS3
• DragonBall Z Burst Limit - PS3
• Turok - PS3

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Starz sells 'Simpsons' animation house

As Starz Media looks to streamline its business, the company has sold animation studio Film Roman -- the shingle that produces the animation for Fox's "The Simpsons."

Former Film Roman prexy Scott Greenberg led the team of investors that has acquired Film Roman in the deal, announced Monday by Starz prexy/CEO Chris Albrecht. Terms of the cash deal were not disclosed; both sides expect the sale to close by the end of this year.

Starz Media will continue to hold some proprietary interest in Film Roman product, including series "Dan Vs.," which airs on kids network the Hub. Starz's international sales group just sold global rights to "Dan Vs." at this month's Mipcom confab.

Besides "The Simpsons," Film Roman also produced animation for Fox's "King of the Hill"; MTV's "Beavis and Butt-Head"; Marvel's "Super Hero Squad," "The Avengers" and "Ultimate Spider-Man"; and for Nick Jr.'s "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!"

Deal comes as Starz continues to focus on its live-action TV business; Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media absorbed Overture Films' distribution and marketing operation from Starz in July.

Starz Media continues to operate its profitable Anchor Bay Entertainment division, among other brands. "We have the utmost respect for the people of Film Roman and the work they produce," Albrecht said.

As for Greenberg, the exec departed Film Roman in 2008. Since then, he launched another animation shingle, Bento Box Entertainment, along with Mark McJimsey and Joel Kuwahara. Greenberg and the new Film Roman team plan to purchase Bento Box and combine the two entities under Greenberg, McJimsey and Kuwahara.

Bento Box is producing Fox's upcoming primetime entry "Bob's Burgers."

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Atlantic Satellite 77305018 2 Speaker Stands (Black)

• You will receive a total of 2 speaker stands.
• Dimension: 11.88"W x 10.88"D x 49.25"H
• Weight Limit: 2 lbs per each
• Finish: Black
• Material: Cast Iron
• Set of 2 Adjustable Speaker Stands in Black Finish
• Satellite Speaker Stands set feature heavy duty cast iron construction.
• Designed with wide base to provides durability and stability.
• Adjustable height to ensure perfect and customized sound.
• Lightweight with concealed wire management path.
• Two sizes of mounting brackets and double-tape ensure correct installation.
• Standard 1 year warranty.
• Speakers are not included.
• Also available in Titanium finish.
• Easy to install.

Price: $49.99

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Nothing's All Bad (Smukke mennesker)

A Zentropa25 production, in association with New Danish Screen. (International sales: Trustnordisk, Hvidovre, Denmark.) Produced by Meta Louise Foldager, Stine Meldgaard Madsen. Directed, written by Mikkel Munch-Fals.
With: Bodil Jorgensen, Henrik Prip, Mille Hoffmeyer Lehfeldt, Sebastian Jessen, Stine Fischer Christensen.
Rookie Danish scribe-helmer Mikkel Munch-Fals affectingly explores the relationship between sexuality and loneliness in "Nothing's All Bad," which thoughtfully tackles quite a few thorny issues that would trip up lesser filmmakers. Pic focuses on four Danes of different ages whose stories intersect (often, as it turns out, in ironic ways), making for a tonally complex, thematically wide-ranging yet structurally compact item. Pic won a special mention at the San Sebastian fest, where it was part of the Zabaltegi New Directors lineup, and further fest travel should be good, with an off chance of Euro pickups.

Pic is divided into several chapters whose titles come from common idiomatic phrases (the first is called, "My Wiring Has Always Been a Bit Off," which is what one of the protags says to his shrink when asked to explain his strange behavior). Given the tightly drawn plotlines and superb editing, this artificial superstructure is not really necessary, with the exception of the film's prologue and epilogue, which contain a separate, quietly poignant tale that is related to the main story only on a thematic level; its inclusion signals the helmer's willingness to experiment with narrative form while keeping the film's contents very much of a piece.

A beautiful woman in her 30s, Anna (Mille Hoffmeyer Lehfeldt), goes through the difficult process of having a breast removed. Munch-Fals explains everything in a striking overhead shot of Anna as she sits naked in the tub with only one breast left. Later, another arresting shot conveys worlds of sadness and pain as Anna uses two mirrors to make it appear as though she has two breasts again.

During a walk in the park, Anna is confronted with clammy, bespectacled Anders (Henrik Prip), who can't control his urges to expose himself. Anders' young son, the impossibly handsome Jonas (Sebastian Jessen), has so much natural sex appeal even prostitutes pay to take him to bed. Both dad and son clearly have sexuality-related issues that have warped their personalities in strange yet understandable ways.

The father-son pairing is neatly mirrored, as the elderly woman we've spied in some early scenes, Ingeborg (Bodil Jorgensen), turns out to be Anna's mother. Ingeborg has to work hard to fight the loneliness following her retirement and the unexpected death of her hubby.

Both Ingeborg and Anna struggle to cope with something that defined their sexuality but has suddenly become absent, while the two men wrestle with the opposite, as their sexuality is defined by urges and factors beyond their own comprehension and control. Though the protags' struggles are treated seriously, Munch-Fals often looks at their lives at a somewhat ironic remove, not only in the mise-en-scene and dialogue but also in the surprising ways the stories intersect.

Strong thesps play everything completely straight, ensuring that the uncomfortable places the film goes feel like necessary stops for their characters (some of the themes treated here were already present in the helmer's shorts). Pic might gain an NC-17 rating Stateside for some of its topics, but most of the actual sex occurs offscreen.

Though there are two clear parent-child relationships, the four protags all seem to be pretty much alone with their problems, which Munch-Fals exploits to the max in the deliciously ironic Yuletide-set finale.

Dark lensing by Eric Kress ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo") favors medium shots and closeups that stay close to the actors, adding a slightly claustrophobic edge that works well. Other tech contribs are fine.

Danish title wasn't translated onscreen, though press material refers to the pic as "Nothing's All Bad." Original title roughly translates as "Beautiful People."

Camera (color), Eric Kress; editor, Carsten Sosted; music, Jomi Massage; production designer, Charlotte Bech; costume designer, Rikke Simonsen; associate producer, Jonas Bagger. Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (Zabaltegi New Directors), Sept. 19, 2010. Running time: 91 MIN.

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I Loved Lucy

A Laguna Playhouse presentation of a play in one act by Lee Tannen, from his book of the same name. Directed by Todd Weeks.
Lee Tannen - Jeffry Denman Lucille Ball - Diane J. Findlay
"I Loved Lucy," Lee Tannen's dramatized memoir of his latter-day friendship with Lucille Ball (1911-89), could have been so much more than a pleasant trifle. Even die-hard fans, blissed out simply to spend 90 minutes in the company of the redhead, as impressively incarnated by Diane J. Findlay, may find themselves wishing both text and Laguna Playhouse production were truly grappling with the issues raised: a legend in winter, a great fan to the rescue.

Tannen (Jeffry Denman), an East Coast ad man obsessed with the rerun antics of Mr. and Mrs. Ricky Ricardo, uses a remote family connection to become a fixture at Lucy's Beverly Hills manse. There, while husband Gary Morton runs around town drumming up deals for projects such as the disastrous final ABC series, Tannen serves as backgammon partner, sharer of cheap meals and factotum to the increasingly crotchety and erratic star.

Findlay is an astonishing lookalike for Ball, especially in her quick-on-the-draw deadpan takes of disapproval. She can't quite hit Ball's gravelly vocal depths (could Tom Waits?), but her single coughed "Ha!" rings true, as does the solicitude for the young, doting "extra man" at the backgammon table.

The unexplored theme is the relationship between idol and idolizer when intimacy develops and the pre-set roles get blurry. Therein lies danger, and in fact the strongest moments are when Tannen forgets himself and behaves with lese majeste, or jokes about Lucy's age in a way she doesn't find funny.

But things get no richer, let alone darker; this is Roxbury Drive, not "Sunset Blvd." For that matter, self-centered afternoons with Ball were a far cry from "Tuesdays With Morrie." If Tannen changed, or learned anything, over 10 years of grilled cheese and franks 'n' beans, we can't infer it from Denman's one-note sunny Jim performance, which constantly invites us

Sets and costumes, Bruce Goodrich; lighting, Paulie Jenkins; sound, Corinne Carrillo; projections, Kevin Williams; stage manager, Jennifer Ellen Butler. Opened, reviewed Oct. 9, 2010. Runs through Oct. 31. Running time: 1 HOUR, 30 MIN.

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Stan Brooks files for bankruptcy

Stan Brooks has filed for bankruptcy protection after settlement talks broke down between the producer and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists over unpaid "Sordid Lives" residuals.

Brooks disclosed Monday that his Once Upon a Time Films was taking the action "with tremendous sadness and regret."

AFTRA announced Monday that it had withdrawn its offer to settle with Brooks, who's been threatening since August to file for bankruptcy if Hollywood unions would not reduce the $1.6 million he owes in unpaid residuals, health and retirement contributions and late payment penalties. Under an arbitrator's ruling in August, AFTRA members are owed $1.2 million and another $400,000 going the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the IATSE Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan.

Brooks' attorney Kenneth Suddleson told Daily Variety on Monday that his client is being forced to seek bankruptcy protection because the unions have been unwilling to engage in serious negotiations. "This is very unfortunate," he added.

Brooks had asserted last week that he had that he had nearly doubled his original $242,000 offer to settle nonpayment of the $1.6 million. Negotiations continued over the weekend but AFTRA alleged the talks were unproductive due to a lack of specifics from Brooks.

"Despite AFTRA's serious good faith effort to carefully review and understand the merits and practical implications of the settlement offer to the cast members of 'Sordid Lives: The Series,' Once Upon A Time Films, Ltd., and its attorneys have refused to meaningfully address our basic concerns--including clarification of what exactly the proposed settlement sum consists of and how future residual payments to performers were to be guaranteed and paid--and have withdrawn their offer to settle," AFTRA said.

Suddleson disputed AFTRA's characterization, asserting that Brooks' offer has been explained in thorough detail.

The union also said it's prepared to move forward with confirmation of the stipulated award, which is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Brooks has asserted his financial difficulties stem from the production company losing $700,000 due to the 2008 bankruptcy of payroll company Axium Intl. while "Sordid Lives" was shooting. He claims that production was completed thanks to his mortgaging his home and securities.

The comedy series premiered on Logo in 2008 and starred Bonnie Bedelia, the late Rue McClanahan, Olivia Newton-John, Beth Grant and Caroline Rhea.

Brooks said in a statement, "It is with tremendous sadness and regret that we announce that Once Upon a Time Films has been forced to follow the path of other respected companies affected by the Axium collapse and seek relief under the insolvency laws, which we have done this afternoon. After lengthy negotiations all weekend and with many extended deadlines, at noon today it became clear that a deal was not attainable. All of us at Once Upon A Time are proud of our 21 years of making award-winning movies and telling stories - and thank every cast, crew, network and creative partner we've collaborated with over this time."

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The third installment of Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster vampire series is its most action packed, both in terms of fight scenes and human-vampire-werewolf lovin'. In Eclipse, the vampiric Cullen clan and the werewolves--their sworn enemies--unite against an army of "newborn" vampires, whose remnants of human blood in their veins makes them stronger and more uncontrollable, causing a string of murders in the Seattle area. They've been created by the vengeful vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre), still keen on destroying human Bella (Kristen Stewart). Thus, Bella is under careful watch, and her undead love Edward (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) spend a lot of time arguing over who is the better man for her. (In one hilarious scene where Bella's freezing and only Jacob has the lupine body heat to warm her, he looks over at Edward and cracks, "I am hotter than you." Go Team Jacob!) But there's more at the heart of the triangle than love: Bella, against Edward's warnings, doesn't want to grow older than him and would willingly give up contact with her parents, the chance to grow old with children, and more to be turned into a bloodthirsty vampire. (Jacob's trump card is that Bella wouldn't have to give up her mortality to be with him.) But the unfolding of this love triangle is even clumsier than it was on the page; you're never really convinced Bella has romantic feelings for Jacob, even during their climactic kiss on top of the mountain. This is likely to confuse non-readers of the book series, as Stewart emotes nothing that intones there's a real competition here (clearly, she's Team Edward).

Pattinson, on the other hand, appears to have overcome his awkwardness to become a much cooler Edward; Howard, while missing Lefevre's mischief as Victoria, brings her own touch of soft-spoken manipulation; and Billy Burke, as Bella's father Charlie, continues to steal every scene he's in. The other Cullens also get far more play here, notably Rosalie (Nikki Reed), whose revealing back story is touching and tragic, and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), who trains everyone in combat and who, halfway through the movie, adopts a sudden Southern accent that he didn't have before, once it's revealed he was a Confederate soldier (on a side note, it's mentioned in the books that Jasper can calm the emotions of others, but that trait isn't used in the movie). The climactic fight scene is well staged by director David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy); the violence, while not bloody, is still more abundant and disturbing than in the previous films; and the sex, while not actually happening between anyone (yet), is certainly on everyone's mind (but Edward wants to get married first). It seems the characters, and the series, are growing up. --Ellen A. Kim

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Giamatti, Woods are 'Too Big' for HBO

HBO has rounded out its cast for its Wall Street meltdown telepic "Too Big to Fail," with roles that represent a host of public figures as key characters.

James Woods has been tapped to play Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld. Paul Giamatti will play Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Ed Asner will move into a much higher tax bracket in the role of Warren Buffett.

Pic, to be helmed by Curtis Hanson, offers an intimate look at the financial crisis of 2008 and the group of powerbrokers who decided the fate of the world's economy in a matter of a few weeks.

Pic mostly revolves around the work of President George W. Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, played by William Hurt.

Other additions include Billy Crudup as Obama administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Dan Hedaya as Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, Tony Shalhoub as Morgan Stanley topper John Mack and Kathy Baker as Paulson's wife, Wendy.

Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, Michael O'Keefe and Joey Slotnick have supporting roles.

Telepic, likely to air in 2011, is set to begin production in New York over the next two weeks.

"Breaking Bad" scribe Peter Gould penned the script adapted from Andrew Ross Sorkin's book "Too Big to Fail." Hanson is exec producing with Paula Weinstein and Jeffrey Levine. HBO is producing with Spring Creek Prods.

Ezra Swerdlow is producing with Carol Fenelon set as co-exec producer. Vanity Fair contributing editor Bethany McLean and New York Times columnist Joe Nocera have been tapped as consultants.

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Monsters, Inc. [VHS]

Monsters generate their city's power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, top scarer Sulley find his world disrupted.
Plot Synopsis: James P. Sullivan (AKA "Sulley") and Mike Wazowski pick up their paychecks at Monsters Inc., the utility company that generates energy from the goose bumps of children. Sulley, the No. 1 scream-generator at the plant accidentally lets in a little girl into the monster world. Since monsters are actually terrified of children it's a major cause for alarm and a major headache for Sulley and Mike.

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Redline

A Manga Entertainment (in U.S.)/Tohokushinsha Film Corp. (in Japan) release of a Madhouse, Gastonia production. (International sales: Tohokushinsha, Tokyo.) Produced by Kentaro Yoshida, Yukiko Koike. Executive producer, Masahiro Fukushima. Directed by Takeshi Koike. Screenplay, Katsuhito Ishii, Yoji Enokodio, Yoshiki Sakurai.
Voices: Takuya Kimura, Tadanobu Asano, Yuu Aoi, Cho, Kanji Tsuda, Kenta Miyake, Kenyuu Horichi, Monako Hisa.
(Japanese dialogue)
A cavalcade of intergalactic speed demons enter a deadly car race in the full-throttle Japanese anime "Redline." One of the most visually spectacular toons in recent years, pic is a thumping ride for fanboys, but the script's underdeveloped central romance and the fizzling out of intriguing plot threads will impede wider acceptance of this collaboration by helmer Takeshi Koike ("Animatrix World Record") and scripter-designer Katsuhito Ishii (director of "Funky Forest: The First Contact"). Robust biz can be expected (pic opened Oct. 9 in Japan), and turbo-charged worldwide ancillary seems assured. Manga Entertainment plans a limited theatrical release Stateside in 2011.

Produced by brand-name outfit Madhouse, pic is a triumph of design and technical execution. Showing the influence of Western graphic novels and the work of French comic artist Moebius (aka Jean Giraud), the visuals have a distinctly different look from that of traditional 2D Japanese animation. Most eye-catching is the elasticity of moving objects: Cars, buildings and hulking mechanical monsters are bent and stretched in marvelous ways.

Playing like a twisted combo of "Death Race 2000," "Speed Racer" and a '50s hot-rod movie on steroids, pic opens with a dazzling 11-minute pre-credits sequence showing competitors vying for berths in Redline, an illegal, no-holds-barred road race. The main protag, and one of the few human characters in a freakish gallery of cyborgs, robots and animal-human hybrids, is J.P. (voiced by Takuya Kimura), an ultra-cool Redline contender sporting a pompadour big enough to put the Leningrad Cowboys' coiffures to shame. Once jailed for race-fixing, he's told by alligator-skinned mechanic/manager Frisbee (Tadanobu Asano) to follow betting-syndicate orders on the big day.

Story idles long enough to establish that J.P. secretly loves race rival Sonoshee (Yuu Aoi), a crowd favorite who watches TV topless and feels "wheels are my only love." But the hyperactive screenplay can't commit to much more than a few longing glances and a perfunctory clinch when the checkered flag falls.

The quest for speed at the expense of story cohesion is nowhere more evident than in the lead-up to Redline on Roboworld, a military-run planet that has denied permission for the event and promised death to all competitors. At this point, a batch of new drivers is hustled through the frame with few making a lasting impression, and juicy subplots involving Roboworld's disaffected workers are allowed to fade away. Biggest head-scratcher is Princess Supergrass (Monako Hisa), a charismatic figure who drifts in and out of the picture and seems to be some sort of spiritual supporter of Redline.

But action is the name of the game, and the final reel does not disappoint. The race to the finish line is genuinely astounding, with maniacal drivers and their heavily armed autos melding into fearsome hunks of metal and flesh.

HD rendering of candy-colored visuals is first class. James Shimoji's crunching techno score dominates, with jazz and disco music breaking up the barrage at well-timed intervals.

Camera (color, HD), Riyuu Takizawa; editors, Akira Terauti, Naoki Kawanishi; music, James Shimoji; art director, Yuko Kobari; sound (Dolby Digital), Tsuneo Marui; character designer, Ishii; associate producer, Daisuke Kimura. Reviewed on DVD, Sydney, Oct. 5, 2010. (In Fantastic Fest; Hawaii, Annecy Animation film festivals; 2009 Locarno Film Festival.) Running time: 102 MIN.

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Crazy and Zany Band Aids

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Hamlet

Directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Hamlet - Rory Kinnear
Claudius - Patrick Malahide
Gertrude - Clare Higgins
Ghost, Player King - James Laurenson
Laertes - Alex Lanipekun
Polonius - David Calder
Ophelia - Ruth Negga
Horatio - Giles Terera
Rosencrantz - Ferdinand Kingsley
Guildenstern - Prasanna Puwanarajah
Fortinbras - Jake Fairbrother
Spellbinding intimacy ought to be impossible on the vast Olivier amphitheater stage, but it's there throughout the National's riveting new "Hamlet." Thirty-two-year-old Rory Kinnear's startlingly insightful, career-making performance as the Dane is pivotal to the production's success, but it gains immeasurably from being completely woven into the texture of Nicholas Hytner's commandingly intelligent rethink.

The world of this trimmed but textually unaltered "Hamlet" is a 21st-century version of the Elizabethan one in which it was written: a court enforced by spies and threatened by consciences, most of them guilty. Thus, Vicki Mortimer's contemporary design -- a versatile set of movable walls and windows -- provides a variety of elegant rooms and corridors and dangerous spaces filled with possibilities for surveillance.

Claudius (Patrick Malahide) delivers his opening speech concerning "our dear brother" not just to the court, but to a video crew. This neatly underlines the insincerity of his public address, but by choosing not to show the actual video image, Hytner typically avoids overemphasis. His restraint throughout keeps audiences fixed not on his directorial ideas, but on the actors.

That is central to an overall interpretation governed by the play's fascination with theatricality, actors and acting -- "Seems, madam!" queries Hamlet, "Nay, it is." Thus, James Laurenson's beautifully rendered Player King becomes not the bombastic orator of many productions but a good actor; hence Kinnear's sense of shock, which reverberates so movingly through "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!," his response to the Player's performance.

Like almost all the soliloquies, that's delivered on the stage apron -- Mortimer's set is, in essence, a large Shakespearean inner stage -- which allows Kinnear to buttonhole the audience with ease. That seeming lack of visible effort is the hallmark of his performance. Other recent Hamlets, notably Jude Law and David Tennant, have been more physically strenuous and emotionally volatile. But aside from his deliberately "acted" scenes of antic disposition, Kinnear's physicality is highly compacted. What becomes increasingly moving is his internal struggle as his thoughts and fears threaten to tear him apart.

In place of high emoting, there's emotional and intellectual clarity. Hamlet's prevarication becomes expressly the result of his being too smart to merely follow impulses. His intelligence, and Kinnear's, allows him to communicate through every precisely isolated phrase and filled silence. So when his instincts break free, the effect is shocking, as in his abrupt rejection of Ophelia (Ruth Negga). We see his sudden realization that since she's the daughter not of a doddering old fool, but of the court spymaster, she's in on the game, and the book she's holding probably houses a concealed microphone.

His furious distress at her betrayal gives momentum to the brilliantly reconceived closet scene in which Clare Higgins' hitherto grand, big-drinking Gertrude is wonderfully undone by the fact that she actually sees the ghost (Laurenson). It's a revelatory moment that subsequently fuels her rage at Ophelia's death. "Drowned?" she cries, less in horror than enraged disbelief.

Not everything works. Some of the subsidiary roles are less than ideally realized, and even Hytner can't solve the problem of Ophelia being so impossibly underwritten. He presents Ophelia as having worked out what Claudius is up to, but having her wheel on her incriminating evidence in a supermarket trolley is a rare instance of overstatement.

Traditionalists won't be pleased with a Hamlet who, for the most part, dresses like a grungy student; nor will those seeking a supposedly radical take. But this unfashionably unflashy, dramatically incisive production is so exacting that it makes you understand and feel exactly why the play is a masterpiece.

Sets and costumes, Vicki Mortimer; lighting, Jon Clark; sound, Paul Groothuis; music, Alex Baranowski; production stage manager, Andrew Speed. Opened, reviewed Oct. 7, 2010. Running time: 3 HOURS, 40 MIN.

With: Matthew Barker, Marcus Cunningham, Richie Hart, James Pearse, Michael Peavoy, Saskia Portway, Victor Power, Nick Sampson, Michael Sheldon, Leo Staar, Ellie Turner, Zara Tempest-Walters.

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RoomMates RMK1382SCS Star Wars Clone Wars Peel and Stick Wall Decal

You will feel the Force with this ultra dynamic set of Star Wars: The Clone Wars wall decals. Based on the hit Cartoon Network show from the Lucasfilm Animation studios, these decals feature the original 3D art of all your favorite characters: Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, R2D2, and many more. Better yet, all of the lightsabers glow in the dark! Your walls will never be boring again. Immerse yourself in the Clone Wars universe and turn your bedroom into a galaxy far, far away. This Star Wars: The Clone Wars Wall Appliques Set includes 28 appliques of assorted sizes. RoomMates appliques remove in seconds and can be repositioned over and over again without damaging the surface or ever leaving any paper or sticky residue. Simply peel and stick onto any smooth surface: walls, furniture, mirrors, tiles, lockers, book covers, cars... the applications are as endless as your imagination!

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Japanese thesp Ryo Ikebe dies

TOKYO -- Thesp Ryo Ikebe, whose career started in 1941 and spanned the Golden Age of Japanese films, died in Tokyo on Friday at age 92. The cause of death was sepsis.

Born in 1918 in Tokyo to painter and comic artist Hitoshi Ikebe, Ikebe joined the Toho studio in 1941 with the aim of becoming a helmer. His soft-featured, city-bred good looks drew the attention of Toho helmer Yasujiro Shimazu, who cast Ikebe in the 1941 pic "Fighting Fish" (Togyo).

After serving in the military for four years, Ikebe emerged as one of postwar Japan's brightest new stars, appearing in such hits as Tadashi Imai's youth drama "Blue Mountains" (Aoi Sanmyaku, 1949) and the Akira Kurosawa-scripted WW2 drama "Desertion at Dawn" (Akatsuki no Dasso, 1950).

In the 1950s, Ikebe moved from young leading man roles to a wider range of parts, such as the elite bureaucrat who falls into self-destructive dissipation in Minoru Shibuya's "Modern Man" (Gendaijin, 1952) and the cheating businessman in a troubled marriage in Yasujiro Ozu's "Early Spring" (Soshun, 1956).

In the 1960s, with the decline of the studio system and the influx of new genres and styles, Ikebe changed direction again, starring as an ex-con who takes up with a fast-living younger women in Masahiro Shinoda's seminal gangster pic "Pale Flower" (Kawaita Hana, 1964), as well as co-starring with yakuza pic icon Ken Takakura in the hit nine-part "Remnants of Chivalry in the Showa Era" (Showa Zankyoden) series (1965-1972).

Ikebe also appeared in "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters," Paul Schrader's 1985 biopic about writer/actor Yukio Mishima, though abroad he is perhaps better known for his turns in Toho's signature sci-fi pics, such as Ishiro Honda's "Battle in Outer Space" (Uchu Daisenso, 1959) and Gorath (Yosei Gorath 1962), as well as Jun Fukuda's "Battle in Outer Space 2" (Wakusei Daisenso, 1977).

Ikebe starred in many TV dramas and stage plays, while carving out a second career as a best-selling, critically acclaimed essayist and memoirist. His 1991 autobio "A Light Breeze and Sometimes a Whirlwind" (Soyokaze toki niwa Tsumujikaze) won a Japan Literary Award Special Award.

His last appearance as an actor was in the NHK drama series "Love on a Summer's Day" (Natsu no Hi no Koi) in 2002, although he kept writing essays for a Tokyo magazine until the October 2009 issue.

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Dock Connector to USB 2.0 Cable for iPod and iPhone (White)

Maximize the performance of your iPod and your docking connector with Apple's handy USB 2.0 interconnect. Compatible with Windows PCs only, the cable offers up to 480 Mbps data transfer for lightning-quick loading, or synching, of your entire music library to your iPod portable music player. Connect the FireWire end to the iPod power adapter to charge the unit while synching. The cable is compatible with iPods with dock connectors only.

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Celebracion: Gustavo Dudamel, Juan Diego Florez, Los Angeles Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel leads the L.A. Philharmonic on Oct. 8. (Matthew Imaging/WireImage)

Presented by Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Performers: Juan Diego Florez, Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Reviewed October 7, 2010.
In the Gustavo Dudamel regime so far, the gala opening concert has become the face that the Los Angeles Philharmonic presents to the outside world. Last year, it was an unusually demanding, high-minded image for a gala -- ?a world premiere by John Adams and a large-scale Mahler symphony. This year, Dudamel and company reverted to something more traditional:?short pieces not too taxing on the attention span, with a guest star as a lure. But Dudamel and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez gave the old formula a neat thematic twist of their own -- all-Rossini in the first half, all-Latin in the second -- and one went away entertained, perhaps even enlightened.

As with the 2009 gala, the marketers had almost every format covered. PBS will televise the concert as part of its Great Performances series on Dec. 29 (in L.A.). Deutsche Grammophon was onboard again with an iTunes release tentatively set for Oct. 19 and a possible DVD at some future date. KUSC-FM and NPR.org carried the audio live.

Not all went off as planned, for Dudamel had to scale back his agenda,?scrapping the overture and a scene from Rossini's "William Tell". But he came up with a charming metaphor as an explanation, likening his original program to an overstuffed suitcase.

There was, however, enough Rossini left for Dudamel to demonstrate his winning ways with the Italian bel canto master. One of Dudamel's predecessors at the Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini, used to say that Rossini's music always has a smile -- and that's the way Dudamel conducts it. He let the?tempos of the "La Gazza Ladra" and "Semiramide" overtures fly, building the crescendos with a grin, a wiggle of the hips, a raised eyebrow, and pinpoint motions with the baton.

Florez, who has made a specialty of Rossini, easily peeled off arias from "La Cenerentola" and "Semiramide," his lyrical tenor still youthful and fresh, though it sounded rather dim from the acoustically skewed perspective of Disney Hall's left Garden Level.

For the Latin half, Dudamel rocked the house with two of his dance-based specialties: Jos? Pablo Moncayo's "Huapango" and Arturo M?rquez's Danzon No. 2 (the LA Phil displayed a good grasp of the clave rhythm in the latter), and Florez served up four highly Romantic canciones.

Florez cooked up one of the arrangements ("La flor de la canela") himself, generously lacing it with so much detail in the winds that his own voice got lost in the thicket.

In effect, though, Florez seemed to be warming up all night for one of his encores, Donizetti's infamous "Ah, mes amis" with its nine treacherous high Cs. Fl?rez nailed them all brightly and clearly, wowing the Disney Hall crowd as he has at the Met. Finally, he and Dudamel clowned around with Verdi's "La donna e mobile," for which clowning seems to have become a tradition since the Three Tenors went at it.

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Iron Man 2 (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

"Robert Downey Jr. returns as billionaire Tony Stark in this thrilling sequel to the worldwide blockbuster. Now that his superhero secret has been re

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PGA honors Hanks, Goetzman

The Producers Guild of America has tapped the producing team of Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman to receive its Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television.

Duo will be presented with the kudo at the 22nd annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Jan. 22 at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

"Tom and Gary are extraordinarily talented producers who have changed the television landscape with extremely unique, award-winning programming," said Paula Wagner, chair of ceremonies. "They consistently deliver intelligent, thoughtful entertainment that has made a tremendous worldwide impact on the industry; we look forward to honoring their remarkable achievements."

This year's recipient was Mark Burnett. Previous recipients include Dick Wolf, Jerry Bruckheimer, John Wells, Lorne Michaels, Bud Yorkin, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, David L. Wolper, Don Hewitt, Garry K. Marshall, Aaron Spelling, Steven Bochco, David E. Kelley and Lear.

Hanks and Goetzman formed Playtone Prods. in 1998. Banner's TV credits include "Band of Brothers," "John Adams," "The Pacific," "Big Love" and "The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert."

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Iron Man 2 (Single-Disc Edition)

BILLIONAIRE TONY STARK MUST CONTEND WITH DEADLY ISSUES INVOLVING THE GOVERNMENT, HIS OWN FRIENDS, AS WELL AS NEW ENEMIES DUE TO HIS SUPERHERO ALTER EGO IRON MAN.

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LA Film Fest sets 2011 dates

Film Independent's 17th Los Angeles Film Fest has been set for June 16-26.

Fest will return to L.A. Live and the Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 in Downtown Los Angeles for the second year.

Feature-length, short narrative and documentary films and musicvideo submissions will be accepted starting Nov. 1, with a Dec. 3 early deadline and a Jan. 14 regular deadline. Final deadline is Feb. 11 for shorts and musicvids, Feb. 24 for feature length narrative and docu films. Submissions will be accepted via Withoutabox.com.

The 2010 edition screened more than 200 films including "The Kids Are All Right," "Cyrus," "Eclipse" and "Despicable Me." The fest awarded $50,000 each to narrative winner "A Family" and docu winner "Make Believe."

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Famed opera singer Joan Sutherland dies

Joan Sutherland, the famed coloratura soprano often mentioned in the same breath as her operatic contemporary Maria Callas, died Oct. 10 in Geneva after a long illness. She was 83.

Known as La Stupenda to Italian fans, Kolaturawunder in Germany and the Incomparable to English-speaking buffs, Sutherland was a star of the opera stage from the '50s through her retirement in 1990.

A specialist in the Italian bel canto repertory, she was featured with all of the greatest international companies, directed by such notables as Franco Zeffirelli and working opposite leading men like tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who toured Australia with Sutherland in 1963 and made his 1965 U.S. debut opposite her.

Born in Australia, Sutherland first studied voice and piano with her mother. She made her concert debut at 20 in 1947 as Dido in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," and made her stage debut in Sydney in 1951.

Sutherland moved to London in 1951; after further studies, she joined the Covent Garden opera company the following year. She would work frequently with conductor Richard Bonynge, whom she married in 1954.

Originally schooled as a Wagnerian soprano, she developed the upper end of her vocal range with Bonynge's encouragement, and attained acclaim for her peerless high-register work.

She rose to world fame after her 1959 performance in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" in a Covent Garden production directed by Zeffirelli, who also helmed her 1960 Venice debut in Handel's "Alcina." She bowed in the Donizetti role at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1960. She took five leading roles at Milan's La Scala from 1961-66.

Her best-known roles included the titular lead in Bellini's "Norma" and Cleopatra in Handel's "Giulio Cesare"; she also performed all three soprano parts in Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffman." In a 2002 interview, she said she viewed her performance in Massenet's "Esclarmonde" as her greatest achievement.

She was feted at the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors and Queen Elizabeth honored her as a dame of the British Empire in 1978.

She is survived by Bonynge, a son and two grandchildren.

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Recovery

The much-anticipated new album - EMINEM RECOVERY

On Recovery, his seventh major label studio album, EMINEM has reached out to an exciting list of first-time collaborators, including DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, among others.

EMINEM releases Recovery just over a year after his last album, 2009's Relapse. Relapse put the cap on an impressive ten years of recorded output, and contributed to EMINEM being the biggest selling artist of 2000-2009. In recognition of this, Neilsen SoundScan named him their Artist of the Decade. Relapse entered the charts at #1 and, at nearly double platinum, was the best selling rap album of last year. It also earned EMINEM his 11th Grammy award, winning in the Best Rap Album category. Relapse's first single, "Crack A Bottle" from EMINEM, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem's second #1 after 2002's "Lose Yourself") and set a SoundScan record at the time of its release for opening week download sales (418,000). The album also spun off two other hits; the Top 10 "We Made You" and Top 20 "Beautiful."

"I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," remarked EMINEM. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title."

EMINEM has sold more than 78,000,000 albums worldwide. After 1999's quadruple platinum The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) became two of the Top 5 best selling albums of the 2000s, with approximately 10,000,000 copies of each sold in the U.S. alone. 2004's Grammy-nominated Encore reached #1 and was certified quadruple platinum. The #1, double platinum, 2005 greatest hits collection Curtain Call: The Hits and #2, platinum, 2006 various artists compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up followed.

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Film Society kicks off capital campaign

Film Society of Lincoln Center has raised $37 million of the $41 million target of its current capital campaign.

Tally was announced on the closing night of the Film Society's New York Film Festival, which wrapped Sunday with Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter." The public phase of the campaign, which kicked off Sunday, aims to raise the remaining $4 million following the $37 million on the books from the campaign's private phase.

Capital campaign heads toward the finish line as the Film Society prepares to open its new facilities on the Lincoln Center campus, with a complex that will add two theaters to the Film Society's roster. Also under construction are an amphitheater and cafe, among other features. Larger of the two theaters, which will seat 150, will be named the Francesca Beale Theater, execs said at the closing night gala.

In addition, Film Society announced Sidney Poitier will be feted at its upcoming 38th Chaplin Awards gala.

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Gran Turismo 5

The next installment of the award-winning Gran Turismo simulation racing franchise, Gran Turismo 5, is designed for play exclusively to the PlayStation 3 system. Known for its signature beauty and precision, this highly anticipated racer showcases new jaw-dropping cars, real-life tracks, and diverse racing styles. Gran Turismo 5 promises to deliver exciting advancements to the series, and in the process deliver in the most comprehensive racing experience ever. The game supports online racing and features over 950 cars, over 20 courses, 70 variations, the newest hybrid cars and electric cars, a new physics engine, a new in-cockpit view, HD support, and much more.

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NBC, CBS strong on Sunday

A down-to-the wire game involving two teams from major markets has lifted NBC to another Sunday ratings victory in key demos, but CBS will come in a competitive second thanks to its football overrun and potent regular lineup.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, NBC's "Sunday Night Football" matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers averaged a 5.7 rating/15 share in adults 18-49 and 14.2 million viewers overall on the net's stations from 8:30 to 11 p.m., with the final numbers expected to rise by 15% or more in the nationals to stand as Sunday's top-rated program for a fifth straight week.

The game earned an 11.7 overnight household rating, up 8% vs. last year's Game 5 matchup between the smaller-market Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans (10.8).

Numbers for CBS are subject to significant revision in the nationals due to a nearly hourlong NFL overrun featuring the conclusion of the Tennessee-Dallas and Oakland-San Diego NFL contests. From 8 to 9 p.m., an hour that featured mostly "60 Minutes" averaged a 3.8/10 in 18-49 and 14.6 million viewers overall. It was followed at 9 p.m. with a 3.8/10 in 18-49 and 12.1 million viewers overall (for mostly "Amazing Race") and a 3.5/9 in 18-49 and 11.9 million viewers overall from 10 to 11 p.m. for mostly "Undercover Boss."

CBS had a healthy preliminary advantage over NBC for the night in total viewers, and likely will still win Sunday bragging rights when the nationals are released Tuesday.

At ABC, "America's Funniest Home Videos" (1.5/6 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall) and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (2.3/6 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) both were below par, leading into the lowest-rated firstrun fall episode to date for vet "Desperate Housewives" (3.8/9 in 18-49, 12.2 million viewers overall). And at 10, "Brothers and Sisters" held up a bit better (2.8/7 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall) but finished a distant third in its timeslot.

Fox was below average and its male-skewing animated lineup likely was affected most by facing both football and baseball (TBS aired an opening-round postseason game). "The Simpsons" opened things at 8 p.m. (3.0/8 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall), followed by "The Cleveland Show" (2.6/7 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall), top show "Family Guy" (3.4/9 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) and "American Dad" (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 4.7/13; CBS, 4.6/13; ABC, 2.6/7; Fox, 2.5/7; Univision, 1.0/3.

In total viewers: CBS, 15.3 million; NBC, 11.9 million; ABC, 8.9 million; Fox, 5.4 million; Univision, 2.8 million.

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Roku HD Player

With Wi-Fi and High Definition playback capability built-in, Roku HD Player is the easiest way to stream top-quality instant movies and shows directly to your TV - over 50,000 and counting, from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. The best-selling HD Player has everything you need to start enjoying endless entertainment from the comfort of your couch. No wonder it's Netflix members' top rated streaming player.

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Slackistan

A Mara Pictures release of a Big Upstairs Films presentation in association with Stealth Films. (International sales: Cinetic Rights Management, New York.) Produced by Shandana Ayub, Hammad Khan. Executive producers, Menhaj Huda, Stella Nwimo. Directed, edited by Hammad Khan. Screenplay, Shandana Ayub, Khan.
With: Shahbaz Hamid Shigri, Aisha Linnea Akhtar, Ali Rehman Khan, Shahana Khan Khalil, Osman Khalid Butt, Khalid Saeed, Rafey Alam. (English, Urdu dialogue.)
Two decades after Richard Linklater's "Slacker," Pakistan gets its own paean to post-college limbo in "Slackistan," a low-budget comedy-drama set among Islamabad's highly westernized, privileged twentysomethings. Blighty-based feature debutant Hammad Khan returns to his motherland to explore youthful ennui. While the pic's only novelty is its location, and the script lacks proper comic zing, this labor of love should connect with young South Asians, especially in the West, who will relate to the characters' conflicted identities. Festival play reps the low-key pic's best chance of general exposure.

Working with mostly non-professional actors, Khan (who not only helms and edits here but also shares credits for lensing, producing and writing) convinces in his slice-of-life depiction of affluent college graduates evidently in no rush or under much pressure to find gainful employment. That leaves plenty of time for driving between hangouts, each no more or less interesting than the last.

Narrator Hasan (Shahbaz Hamid Shigri) despairs of ever discovering in Islamabad the inspiration he believes will kickstart his own filmmaking creativity -- he can't even find "Mean Streets" on DVD -- and plans to emigrate. His treasured movie camera sits unused in a cardboard box. So, too, figuratively, do Hasan's unexpressed feelings for his pretty childhood friend Aisha (Aisha Linnea Akhtar). Vague drama comes from the tribulations of pal Sherry (Ali Rehman Khan), who has been funding his flash lifestyle with loans from the thuggish Mani (Khalid Saeed), which must suddenly and inconveniently be repaid. Pic deserves better than this overly familiar, yet unconvincing, narrative motor.

Suicide bombings and Pakistan's political travails barely impinge on the characters' lives. A typical concern is how to respond when an uncle submits a Friend request on Facebook. But a wider perspective does eventually emerge, especially as Hasan develops a conscience about his treatment of a family servant, and strays into an adjacent impoverished neighborhood. Epiphanies, however, remain modest.

With Khan opting for mostly static camera setups, frequent driving scenes provide some respite, as do screen wipes, intertitles ("7 minutes later," "Meanwhile?") and occasional jump cuts. Male wardrobe choices favor jokey T-shirts ("Horny devil," for instance) perhaps more suited to younger characters, but maybe that's the point. A generic soundtrack of rock, pop and occasional rap showcases local acts whose sounds are totally in thrall to, and indistinguishable from, contemporary sounds from the West. Maybe that's also the point.

Camera (color, HD), Khan, Adnan Malik; costume designer, Pashmina Ahmed; sound, Andrew Daynes; associate producer, Malik; assistant director, Nadia Rahman Khan. Reviewed at Raindance Film Festival, London, Oct. 7, 2010. (Also in Abu Dhabi Film Festival.) Running time: 87 MIN.

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Windows Phone 7 takes aim at Apple

While Microsoft's previous efforts in mobile technology haven't generated a lot of support or enthusiasm, the company is incorporating a variety of entertainment elements into its upcoming phones -- which could be key to winning marketshare.

A trio of handsets featuring Windows Phone 7 -- which many analysts feel is the company's last chance to make a real impact in the mobile space -- will hit AT&T stores on Nov. 8. Other carriers will follow shortly thereafter. (Some European customers will get the phones on Oct. 21.)

Rather than simply shrinking the traditional Windows operating system onto a phone as the company has done previously, the new devices more closely resemble Apple's iPhone featuring colorful, compartmentalized touch-screens, easier access to core functions and an app store. But each Windows Phone 7 series will also allow users to play Xbox Live games, watch selected programming on AT&T's U-verse service and download and play music and video through the company's Zune division.

"We wanted to make a modern phone -- modern in design, modern in its principles. We've taken a very different path," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a launch event in New York. Microsoft's long-promised integration with AT&T's U-verse cable service will be a key component of the phones. The service's 2.5 million subscribers will be able to watch select programming via Windows Phone 7-equipped handsets, including "Mad Men," "Nightline" and "The Wizards of Waverly Place," and schedule their home DVRs remotely.

Rather than streaming video, however, the phones will download programs to the phone via WiFi, letting people watch at their convenience -- and allowing for video playback on planes or other places where cellular service is not available.

Non U-verse subscribers will also be able to access these features for a $9.99 monthly fee.

Subscribers to Microsoft's Zune music service will be able to listen to their music collection on their phones as well. Rather than offering music a la carte as iTunes does, Microsoft offers a $15 monthly subscription service, allowing people to download as much music as they'd like -- which remains playable until the subscription expires. (Users are also allowed to permanently download 10 tracks per month.)

The integration will allow Windows Phone 7 devices to compete with the iPhone's musical aspects.

For gamers, Microsoft will closely incorporate Xbox Live -- the 25 million member strong online component of its console gaming division -- into the phones. Users will be able to play Xbox Live games and boost their Gamerscore -- an achievement-based point system that has been extremely popular among Xbox owners.

Third-party publishers, including Electronic Arts, have already committed to support Windows Phone 7 with a variety of titles, including "Need for Speed" and "The Sims".

"We took a step back and said we have all these awesome properties throughout the company? we really need to bring those to the phone and not keep them separate," said Liz Sloan, senior marketing manager at Microsoft.

Microsoft holds just 5 percent of the mobile market, according to research firm Gartner, down from 9 percent a year ago. Its most recent release, the Kin, was abandoned after just six weeks on the market.

Reaction to Windows Phone 7, however, has been encouraging. While Microsoft isn't announcing sales projections, it's betting big on the phones. Sixty mobile operators around the world in 30 countries will carry them this year.

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Outbox takes on Ticketmaster

Former Ticketmaster chief executive officer Fredric D. Rosen has been appointed CEO of Outbox Enterprises, the U.S. arm of Montreal-based ticketing firm Outbox Technology.

Rosen, who will be based in Outbox's new Los Angeles offices, will direct the company's North American business operations in tandem with the firm's founder, Jean-Francoys Brousseau.

The Stateside endeavor teams execs with deep prior experience in the ticketing biz.

Rosen was CEO at Ticketmaster from 1982-98; he led the firm to U.S. dominance -- and developed such models as consumer "convenience fees."

Brousseau was founder and president of Microflex and Admission Network in Canada; those concerns were sold to Ticketmaster in 2000. He founded Outbox in 2005 in partnership with Cirque du Soleil; the company also manages sales for the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal's Bell Center and the Kodak Theater in L.A.

Outbox will attempt to challenge Ticketmaster, which merged with promoter Live Nation in January, by developing a so-called "white-label" ticketing solution intended to create a more direct connection between consumers and facilities.

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Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods

A Halo 8 release of a Respect Films and Sequart production. Produced by Amber Yoder, Jordan Rennert, Patrick Meaney. Executive producers, Mike Phillips, Julian Darius, F.J. DeSanto. Directed, edited by Patrick Meaney.
With: Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Douglas Rushkoff, Richard Metzger, Steve Cook, Gordy Goudie, Jason Aaron, Cameron Stewart, Matt Fraction, Philip Bond, Adam Mortimer, Phil Jiminez, Frazer Irving, Karen Berger, Camilla D'Errico, Geoff Johns, Jill Thompson.
A contemporary comicbook legend is profiled in "Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods," Patrick Meaney's first feature. The charismatic subject of this admiring portrait will intrigue the previously unconverted, though the docu will primarily appeal to established fans who already have a firm grasp on innovations in comics/graphic-novel writing over the past few decades. Coming out Stateside on DVD later this month, pic made its theatrical debut Oct. 8 with a run at San Francisco's Roxie Cinema.

Introduced at one event as "the true rock star of comics," chrome-domed Morrison was raised in a poor Glasgow neighborhood by progressive-activist parents, channeled his misfit and exhibitionist tendencies into a local rock band, and by 17 had begun publishing comics. Though he himself draws, he has long since happily acquiesced to the superior skills of various top-flight artists interviewed here, with whom he maintains variably direct/obscure lines of communication.

Around the time Tim Burton's first "Batman" film came out, DC Comics commissioned Morrison to put his own spin on the Caped Crusader, followed by other adventuresome, deconstructive takes on fellow superheroes Superman, the X-Men, the Justice League, etc.

These critical and commercial triumphs (though he created even more surreal, complex work in wholly original efforts like "The Invisibles") allowed him to flaunt a flamboyant lifestyle of world travel, substance experimentation and even cross-dressing. A practitioner of chaos magic, he claims to have had an alien abduction in Kathmandu and communications with demons, elements that have heavily colored writings in which he's occasionally appeared as a character. While Morrison has been branded a space case in some circles, such eccentricities have added to a personal mystique that complements works impressive (if sometimes near-impenetrable) for their nonlinear storytelling and abstract ideas. Several illustrators note the challenge of realizing his vision.

Somewhat more settled down these days with wife/manager Kristan (not interviewed here), Morrison makes engaging company, forthcoming about his more outre notions and experiences without seeming smug or a braggart.

Pic is pretty much one long sit-down with Morrison, broken up by input from collaborators, friends and observers, plus glimpses of his work. While content and nimble packaging hold attention, those without some prior knowledge of his oeuvre and its larger genre-historical context -- notably the "Brit Wave" of comics mavericks (also including Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman) that emerged in the 1980s -- might feel a bit at sea.

Camera (color/B&W, DV), Jordan Rennert; sound, Gian Ishino; Rennert, Meaney. Reviewed on DVD, San Francisco, Oct. 7, 2010. Running time: 80 MIN.

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